Bank Teller Saves Target of Suspected Scam

A bank teller helped Costa Mesa police save a 74-year-old Santa Ana woman Friday from an alleged lottery scam that landed an Alhambra man in jail, authorities said.

The intended victim, whose name was not released by police, was approached by the suspect, 53-year-old Guillermo Coronado, Friday afternoon while she was shopping at a Santa Ana department store, said Lt. Ron Smith of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Coronado reportedly told her in Spanish that he had won $100,000 in the lottery but needed her help because he was an illegal immigrant and could not cash the ticket. But he said that before they could proceed, she should withdraw $12,000 from the bank to prove she was trustworthy, Smith said.

“He told her if she cashed the ticket for him they could split the money 50-50,” Smith said.

When the woman asked a teller at the Bank of America at 3233 Park Center in Costa Mesa for $12,000 in cash, the teller became suspicious, Smith said. She told the bank employee the lottery story and he relayed the information to his manager who called the police, Smith said.

Law enforcement officers asked the woman to walk out of the bank with the $12,000 and present it to Coronado as they watched. Police moved in and made the arrest without incident after the transaction, Smith said.

“The teller was real heads-up on this, and so was the bank,” Smith said. “They have to be credited with helping her out on this, and us.”

Coronado was booked on charges of grand theft by trick or device and held in Costa Mesa city jail in lieu of $10,000 bail, Smith said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Municipal Court in Newport Beach.

Smith said police are trying to determine whether there are other recent victims “because typically that’s what happens with these types of bunco scams.”