A new twist on an old scam cons a grandmother out of $4K

BELLE, MO. -- The promise of $1 million led one mid-Missouri grandmother to fall victim to a new twist on an old scam - and it wiped her out of almost $4,000.

It's called the 'lottery scam.' Over the years there have been several variations of it, but in every case it involves wiring thousands of dollars to Canada. Sometimes it's to help a supposed family member.

The Promise of a Million Bucks

Sandrey Cooper thought she hit the jackpot when she received a letter on March 21, telling her she won $1 million. But instead of striking it rich she wound up being scammed.

"I got this letter in the mail...saying I was a second prize winner for $1 million,” Cooper said.

However, the letter was really scammers pretending to from Publishers Clearinghouse. Even though Cooper had never entered any contests the thought of winning was just too much to pass up, so she called the number on the letter.

"He congratulated me and said 'You know everything has to be confidential because you will be getting a lot of money and it's for my safety,'” Cooper said.

Along with the letter was a check for $5,900, sort of a down payment on $1 million, Cooper thought. All she had to do was wire $3,700 in cash to get the rest.

This is also called an "overpayment scam" because the victim thinks the check ($6,000) is legit, which it's not, and then doesn't feel bad about giving part of that money ($3,700) back, for the promise of $1 million.

So Cooper drove a half an hour from her Belle home to the Owensville Wal-Mart, as she was instructed, and wired the cash to a Canadian address.

Then she was told they needed $2,000 more.

'Something Fishy'

"When they wanted $2,100 more in cash then I thought there's something fishy about this,” Cooper said.

So she called her bank and that's when they told her that $5,900 check they sent her was bogus.

"These are all red flags and when you put them together it's extra suspicious,” said Travis Ford, with the Missouri Division of Finance.

"The involvement of Canada where a lot of fraud originates in the United States, the notification that you won a prize in a drawing that you never entered," Ford said. "And then the request not to tell anyone, keep it a secret, these are all red flags."

We checked in with the Owensville Wal-Mart to see why they didn't warn Cooper this was a scam. The manager said they usually warn customers if a wire transaction sounds suspicious but in this case no red flags went off.

The manager says they're going to start warning customers from now on. 

A Costly Lesson

"It hurts,” Cooper said, wiping away tears. “I've been emotional all day."

Consumer experts say because the scammers are based in Canada it will be very difficult for Cooper to get her money back.

"When you get this kinda stuff in the mail it just needs to be thrown away,” said Cooper. “I've learned my lesson."

A lesson that unfortunately came with a price.

Consumer experts say you shouldn't wire money to strangers and that it's important to get a name, address and Web site you can verify first. They also stress you should do business with people you know and can trust.