If you do a basic Google search for “con man gets prison for email scam,” you will find page after page of frightening results. The general public continues to falls prey to email scams, with individuals losing anywhere between a few hundred to millions of dollars per year.
In a scheme perpetrated as recently as a few months ago, Andre Saunders scammed several victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars after telling them that they had won a non-existent lottery and sweepstakes. Saunders has since been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison and was ordered to repay $500,000 in restitution to his elderly victims.
The scam hit close to home in the DFW area as a 77-year-old Fort Worth man was among Saunders’s victims, sending more than $300,000 to Saunders. According to court documents, the man received an email stating he had won $2.5 million from the Sydney Australian Lottery and Sweepstakes. There is no such lottery or sweepstakes.
Over the course of numerous phone calls, the man was told to pay administrative fees—as well as additional fees—to collect his “lottery winnings.” In all, the man wrote 56 checks, totaling more than $313,000.
Back in March, we shared important news from the Better Business Bureau. They now host a free, online database called Scam Tracker. It’s available in 112 BBB’s, including Dallas-Forth Worth, across the United States and Canada, and can provide up-to-the-minute information on local, statewide, and national scams. Scams range from tax collection to debt collection, and from email phishing to travel or vacation getaways.
The elderly remain a favored target. Please share the Scam Tracker with anyone who might be vulnerable to scams. We have provided a link as well as the address: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/us/.
While The Harris Firm, P.C., handles mostly investment fraud cases, we urge you to give us a call if you or someone you know has been a victim of another fraud scheme.
Save
