Police Advise Residents To Be Aware Of Scam Artists

SEBRING The Sebring Police Department is advising the public to be wary of folks who might approach them and say they have won the Florida lottery.

On Wednesday, Officer John Garrison met with a fraud victim, who said she met an unidentified Hispanic male and female at Winn-Dixie. The man told her he had won $3 million in the lottery, but could not cash the ticket because he was in the country illegally, according to an offense report.

The male said he needed $70,000 to get the lottery money and offered the victim the ticket in exchange for the previously mentioned amount. All the victim said she could get was $35,000.

She told remove Garrison that she took the couple to several different banks around Sebring to withdraw the money before giving it to the unidentified female. The victim then took the couple to a CVS pharmacy to get medicine for an upset stomach.

When they arrived at the store, the unidentified female asked the victim to hold a bag containing the money while the couple went into CVS, the offense report stated. After a few minutes, the victim told police she looked into the bag and found only cut newspapers and no money.

The victim then went into the store to find the couple, who were not in the pharmacy.

Sebring Police Commander Steve Carr said this is the second such incident to happen in the past few months. Anyone who comes across a scenario such as this is asked to contact the SPD at 863-471-5107.