The former nurse’s aide was notified she’d won, incredibly, not one, but a fast succession of foreign lotteries. She was even mailed checks to cover fees required to collect her winnings.
“I thought I was blessed,” said Tyus, 54, who, because of a back injury, mainly baby-sits to support herself and four daughters still in college. A fifth graduated with honors last year in nursing.
But instead of receiving a blessing, Tyus faces disaster. The lotteries and the checks were all bogus.
She not only didn’t win big, she owes her bank thousands of dollars. Worse, she faces forgery charges that could send her to jail.
Her case reflects what some consumer experts fear is a change in how law enforcement seeks to stem rampant lottery fraud — going after the victims.
“It’s become a nightmare. I thought I was the victim,” Tyus told me as she supplied me with documentation of her story.
In October, the Boone County prosecutor charged Tyus with four felony counts of passing forged checks with intent to defraud Missouri Credit Union and Legend Automotive.
Tyus has yet to appear on the charges. But she disputes them all.
Prosecutors won’t discuss the case. But Columbia police Detective Steve Brown said authorities allege that while Tyus may have started out a victim, she saw a way to make easy money by passing large checks she knew were bad.
“You go from naive to knowing to criminal,” Brown said.
The only problem is Tyus didn’t make a dime.
Here’s a summary of what happened:
Tyus played FreeLotto on the Internet. Once in a while she even won a buck.
The Internet is apparently where the scam artists got hold of her name. In early August she got a letter saying she’d won the Australian Lottery.
In late August, she got a letter saying she’d won the British Bonanza 2000.
Each time, she was sent authentic looking checks — one was for $5,000 and another was for $2,996 — to cover the required fees to get her winnings into the country. She was directed to deposit the checks into her own bank, and then withdraw cash and wire the money to addresses in Houston and Canada, which she did, receipts show.
Credit union tellers didn’t bat an eye, despite the size and sources of the checks, one of which was written on an Oregon business, Mercer Industries, which makes windows. A firm spokesman told me lottery scammers sent copies of the company’s checks all over the country. “It was driving us nuts,” the spokesman said.
Tyus had already wired cash from the second lottery check when, one by one, the checks began to bounce. The Missouri Credit Union wanted its money back. But it was gone, and Tyus’ account was in the red.
Meanwhile, she was bombarded with more lottery-related checks, money orders and even U.S. Postal orders. Experts say Tyus was probably placed on a “suckers” list, which fraud experts say lottery scammers use to identify an easy mark.
In mid-September, Tyus saw a Legend Automotive ad for a “liquidation” sale. Payments started at $55 a month, and promotional discounts reduced them even more. She needed a car, and here was a bargain.
But a salesman told her that to qualify for the discounts she first had to be approved for a loan and make a down payment.
Tyus had just received four Travelers Express money orders and a Washington Mutual Bank check for $15,200, all from apparent lotteries. She pulled them out. “I asked the man, could I use them?” she said. “He took them and wouldn’t give them back. I never did sign them. I haven’t seen them since.”
Legend officials said they were immediately suspicious about the checks and gave them to police. Tyus never got a car. For one thing, she learned later, she didn’t qualify for a loan.
Experts say charges against lottery victims remain rare. But they are increasing, partly because frustrated police can’t stop the crooks behind the foreign scams raking in $1 billion a year. U.S. authorities lack jurisdiction in Canada, where dozens of lottery scams snag more than 4,000 U.S. victims a month.
“We’ve heard of people showing up at a check-cashing outlet and police also showing up,” said Susan Grant, vice president for public policy for the National Consumers League, which tracks frauds. But she argues that going after victims is out of proportion to their role in the international web of lottery scams.
“It’s putting more responsibility on victims than I think they deserve,” she said. “If you look at the whole situation, that they didn’t know, then prosecuting them is really inappropriate and doesn’t do anything for anyone.”
At best, Tyus was certainly terribly gullible. But it’s something else to believe she was part of an international lottery scam, forged checks in her kitchen or plotted to defraud anyone.
Prosecutors have to prove intent, so I asked Hal James, president and CEO of Missouri Credit Union, whether he believed Tyus set out to bilk his institution. “I don’t have a clue,” he said.
If you unexpectedly get a check, it’s probably a scam.
If you cash the check, you will be liable if it bounces.
If it bounces, you may be sued or prosecuted.
If you must deposit the check, wait until you know it cleared to cash it.
If you have questions, ask your teller or a bank official.
To report a scamAttorney general: Missouri: www.ago.mo.gov or (800) 392-8222; Kansas: www.ksag.org or (800) 432-2310
National Consumers League: www.nclcnet.org or (202) 835-3323
Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov or (877) 382-4357
Phone Busters: www.phonebusters.com or (888) 495-8501
U.S. Postal Inspection Service: www.usps.com/postalinspectors
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