Old Lottery Scam Claims New Victim, Out $82 Thousand
POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) - Guillermina DeLaCruz was shopping inside a Pompano Beach Wal-Mart when a woman approached with a simple question -- did she know the directions to an immigration office.
That simple question began an odyssey that would cost DeLaCruz tens of thousands of dollars in precious family heirlooms, thousands of dollars in cash and a piece of her confidence.
A male customer quickly approached and said that he knew the way to the immigration office but would only take the woman if DeLaCruz came along.
DeLaCruz agreed.
"I was nice to the people," DeLaCruz said.
Too nice, it turns out.
Surveillance video released by the Broward Sheriff's Office Friday shows DeLaCruz and the man and woman leaving the Wal-Mart on March 4 around 11 in the morning.
DeLaCruz got in the car with the pair -- something she said was completely out of character.
"I'm very careful and I never open the door or go in the car with somebody," she said.
But in this instance, she changed her behavior.
Once inside the car, the woman unloaded a bombshell -- she had a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million. However, because she was in the country illegally, she needed someone else to cash it. The suspect asked if DeLaCruz and the man would put up money in exchange for a share of the winnings.
DeLaCruz agreed and had the pair follow her to her house where she retrieved some jewelry.
What she didn't know was that the man and woman were actually working together to rip her off.
DeLaCruz went to her bank and made a cash advance on her credit card of several thousand dollars and removed $75-thousand dollars worth of jewelry from a safe deposit box.
For the suspects, the crime was almost complete.
DeLaCruz said she was thirsty, so the pair dropped her at a CVS for a bottle of water. When DeLaCruz walked outside the store, the suspects were gone.
So was her money and her family heirlooms.
"(The jewelry) was my grandmothers and my mothers and me and supposed to be my daughters but some people take it," she explained.
The jewelry, according to DeLaCruz's daughter, Maria Lang, was custom-made in Colombia. There were about 10-12 pieces, mostly large emeralds.
"It's been in our families for generations and you can't put a price on that," Lang said.
But Lang said more important than jewels or money is the fact that her mother is safe.
"It is jewelry, it is money, it is all the financial things that come along with it but I am grateful they didn't kill my mom," Lang said.
DeLaCruz said the thieves touched her often, hugging her and even gave her gum to chew. She fears it might have been laced with some sort of drug.
These scams are nothing new. There are reports that several South Florida seniors have been victimized in the just the past few months in similar schemes.
Robert Taylor is a former Miami Beach police officer who spent 10 years tracking groups of criminals carrying out lotto scams and other crimes. He said many of the scammers belong to groups emanating from South America. He created the South American Theft Group Intelligence Network, or SATGIN, to provide a database on the crimes that can be viewed by law enforcement officers from the United States and Canada.
He said many seniors are losing their savings to the scam.
"As an elderly person you should be suspicious of everybody coming to you with something that's too good to be true," Taylor said.
Taylor said the scammers operate from Florida to California and some groups consist of as many as 100 members.
He has fliers from police agencies across the country on the wall of his office, listing persons of interest or suspects in these crimes.
The scammers are well-trained with skills passed from generation to generation, Taylor said. He said the scammers approach the elderly because seniors are often trusting. Taylor said the thieves are good at what they do.
"They're very convincing," Taylor said. "They're very nice looking people. They get very comfortable with their victims very quickly. They talk in such a manner that the elderly person feels very sorry for them."
Taylor said the thieves are hard to track because the move frequently and rarely leave behind physical evidence.
A member of SATGIN believes the pair in the surveillance video with DeLaCruz might be well-known suspects wanted in similar crimes from coast-to-coast.
DeLaCruz said the crime did more than cost her money and jewels. She has lost a part of her spirit.
"I don't want to go any place," she said.
Lang said it's been difficult for the entire family.
"She took money out that she didn't have so it's now paying that -- it's financially, it's emotionally, it's also mentally because she feels how could I have done this," Lang said, as her mom wiped away tears.
DeLaCruz said she has learned a tough lesson.
"Don't be too nice with the people," she said. "Be nice but not really the way I was."
Anyone who might be able to identify the crooks is asked to contact BSO Pompano Beach Detective Joel Rivero at 954-786-4210 or Broward Crime Stoppers 954-493-TIPS or www.browardcrimestoppers.org.
