Fullerton Police Warn of Con Artists : Fraud: Two women have been bilked out of $15,000 through bogus lottery and gold bar scams, authorities say.

Police on Thursday warned residents, particularly members of the Latino community, to beware of con artists who reportedly bilked two women out of $15,000 this week through bogus lottery and gold bar schemes.

The two scams took place within an hour of each other at two separate shopping centers on Wednesday afternoon and are similar to two other incidents that occurred in the city earlier this year, Fullerton Police Detective Joe Caracci said.

“These are the only ones that have been reported,” Caracci said. “We don’t know how many other people have been ripped off and might be too embarrassed to come forward. Some people are spending their life savings on these gold bars and lottery tickets.”

In the first incident on Wednesday, a 41-year-old woman standing outside a drugstore was approached by a man who told her that he had a winning lottery ticket worth $27,000. He said he was unable to cash the ticket because he was an illegal immigrant.

A woman who was apparently the man’s accomplice walked up, said she had overheard their conversation and offered to turn the ticket in for him. The accomplice suggested that the man share the winnings with her and the victim and suggested that each put up “good faith money,” Caracci said.

The victim, whose name was not released, agreed and went to the bank to get $11,000 for the man to hold while his accomplice went to cash the ticket. As they were waiting, the man asked the victim if she would fill a prescription for him at the drugstore. While she was in the store, the man and the woman disappeared with the money, Caracci said.

Later on the same day, a 60-year-old woman was approached by a man who said he was trying to locate a business to which he was supposed to deliver some gold bars.

A second man approached the pair and recommended that the man sell the gold bars and persuaded the woman to buy one, which she did for $4,000. The woman later discovered that the gold bar was worthless.

“Basically, people have to realize that you’re not going to get something for free,” Caracci said. “These are con artists who operate on the victim’s greed.”

All suspects and victims in the cases are Latino and the exchanges were conducted in Spanish, Caracci said.

Police ask that anyone who is approached by someone with similar schemes contact the Fullerton Police Department at (714) 738-6715. They recommend that those approached try to obtain the suspect’s car license plate number if possible.