VENTURA : Police Suspect Fraud in Sweepstakes Claim
An elderly Ventura woman was apparently defrauded when she sent money to a sweepstakes firm that told her she had won $10,000 but needed to pay the taxes first, police said.
The woman received an official-looking packet in the mail from “Break the Bank Sweepstakes,” which she believed to be legitimate, police said. She first followed instructions to send $12.97 needed to process her forms, police said.
A short time later, a telephone caller told the woman she had won the cash prize and instructed her to send a check for $1,030 to prepay the Internal Revenue Service for federal taxes, police said.
The sweepstakes company has not been heard from since, police said. Police are investigating possible charges of grand theft by fraud through the mail. No other details of the investigation were available Friday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
