Elderly California Man Falls For Sweepstakes Scam; Borrowed Against Home To Make Payments, Now Facing Foreclosure

The Sacramento Bee reports on the story of a 74 year old man who got sucked into a sweepstakes scam that used a series of official-looking letters that convinced him he had won $450,000, but left him out $125,000, behind on his mortgage payments, and facing foreclosure. According to the story:

• "The [initial letter's] letterhead read "American Federal Direct Consumer Protection Agency" and bore an official-looking seal. [...] Over the months, [he] received dozens more faxed letters, some that purported to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Sacramento County grand jury and Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo. The faxes had letterheads that appeared to be copied from government Web sites. They instructed [him] to pay various fees and taxes, generally in amounts of $2,000 or $3,000, before he could receive his lottery winnings. [...] By the time Williams realized last week that it was all a scam, the 74-year-old great-grandfather said he had sent about 40 wire transfers totaling $125,000 to Costa Rica and other locations. He borrowed the money using his Florin-area home as collateral and took cash advances on his credit cards."

For more, see Sweepstakes scam fleeces Florin-area man (The 74-year-old paid about $125,000 and took out a home loan).

Go here , go here , and go here for other posts on elder financial abuse. yak