Woman Tricked Into Giving 2 Men $2,500

A 50-year-old Ventura woman was duped of $2,500 this week by two men who fed her a bogus story about a winning lottery ticket, police said Friday.

The unidentified woman was standing at California Street and Thompson Boulevard about 2:30 p.m. Thursday when a man came up and asked for directions, police said. Seconds later, a second man walked up and provided the directions, police said.

The first man then asked the woman to share his lottery jackpot by giving him $5,000 as a show of good faith, Ventura Police Sgt. Tom Taylor said.

The woman was skeptical until the second man took her to a pay telephone and dialed a number he said was the state lottery office. A female voice on the line gave the victim lottery numbers that matched the suspect’s ticket, Taylor said.

The trio then took the woman’s car to Union Bank on Market Street, where she withdrew half the asking price, before they went to a drug store on Main Street, Taylor said.

“They duped her into believing they were going in to get medicine,” Taylor said.

The woman was left holding a paper bag she believed contained her money. Instead, it was a bag of worthless paper, Taylor said.

Police are searching for the two Latino men. One is 25 to 28 years old, 5 feet 5 inches, 265 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. The other is about 32 years old, 5 feet 6 inches, 230 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.

Taylor encouraged other victims or targets to call police.