Woman Arrested In Connection To Nationwide Lottery Scam
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A woman is behind bars in connection to a nationwide lottery scam which targeted the elderly.
North Miami Police arrested Luz Perez on June 11th with the help of Immigration and Customs agents who got information about her whereabouts in Miami.
She was arrested on a Violation of Probation warrant for a previous Exploitation of the Elderly or Disabled charge.
Authorities said Perez was identified as a suspect who allegedly committed the crime with other people in various states including Florida, Texas, and California.
Watch the report, click here.
Perez also had warrants out of Volusia County in Florida and Santa Clara County in California.
Perez had allegedly been able to elude authorities by using various alias names.
Florida Counties in which she allegedly conducted the scam include Osceola, Orange, Indian River, Miami Dade and Volusia County.
Officials said they pulled off the scam by using a female who would act alone or with other people. They would target an elderly Hispanic female by going up to them and asking for help.
The scammer or scammers would tell the victim they had won a large lottery prize but were unable to collect it because they were illegal immigrants.
They would then convince the woman to withdraw cash or provide jewelry as collateral to the scammer until the ticket was cashed.
A second scammer would then call what the victim thought was the lottery office to verify the alleged winning ticket.
Once the victim provided the cash or item for collateral, the scammer or scammers would then leave.
Authorities said Perez will be extradited to Osceola County.
RELATED CONTENT:
