Scammer threatens elderly woman with arrest, police say

01:17 PM EST on Thursday, February 21, 2008

By Dottie Wikan, WVEC.com

SUFFOLK – Being threatened with arrest didn’t scare a 79-year-old woman into falling for a scheme.

She told police a man called her Tuesday afternoon saying he was with the FBI and that she’d be arrested for conspiracy if she didn’t wire money to Jamaica.

It’s a new twist on an old scheme, the Nigerian scam, police say.

According to police spokeswoman Lt. Debbie George, the caller indicated that the FBI would bring her a package with fraudulent checks and that it needed a receipt. Then, she had to cash them and go to a Western Union or Moneygram and wire $1,250.00 to a Jamaican address.

After doing all that, the caller explained, the woman would get $250,000.00 from the FBI agent only after he picked up the receipt from her.

When she asked what the money was for, the caller indicated she'd won a sweepstakes from Global International Sweepstakes Company.

Police determined the caller was calling from outside the United States and its territories.

The woman didn’t comply with the demands and instead called police.

Lt. George says police routinely get calls and reports about this kind of scheme.