•••
WOMAN CONNED OUT OF $200,000
• A Chehalis resident in her early 70s reported to police yesterday that she was victimized by someone who phoned her to tell her she’d won a large sum of money; the loss in total was $200,000, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The caller told her she had to pay a “coverage cost” to ensure her winnings were delivered, according to police. The individual collected personal information from her and continued to call the woman back over a period of a few months, department spokesperson Linda Bailey said. The woman came in to the police department to report what happened, but the most police could do was provide her with crime victim information. “Since she had no information we could go off of, we don’t have any way we can do more,” Bailey said. The department’s word of advice for all is, if you’re told you’ve won a prize and you need to pay anything to get it, then it is a scam.
BREAK-IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police responded to an approximately 2:30 a.m. call today for a residential burglary at the 500 block of East Main Street. A stereo system and speakers were stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.
MISSING CAMERAS
• Police were called about 8:10 a.m. yesterday to the 600 block of Centralia College Boulevard to take a report of the theft of cameras.
HARASSMENT
• Chehalis police are forwarding a case to the city prosecutor for consideration of a harassment charge connected with a 57-year-old neighbor at the 600 block of Southeast Dobson Court. An individual contacted police yesterday afternoon, and was the second alleged victim of the same woman, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The complaint involves gossiping and spreading rumors, according to police.
PROWLING
• Centralia police were called just after 8 p.m. yesterday to the 2900 block of Mount Vista Road where the window on a vehicle was broken out. Just after 1 a.m. today, an officer took a report of a window frame to a vehicle being damaged at the 2700 block of the same road, according to the Centralia Police Department.
AND MORE
• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, driving under the influence; responses for dispute, hit and run, trespassing, barking dog, civil problem, suspicious circumstances … and more, among 161 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
It is very easy. If you did not enter any type of sweepstakes or lottery you cannot win one.
“The complaint involves gossiping and spreading rumors, according to police”. Should come to our little Eastern Lewis County town. The town would be very boring without the juicy gossip. Some of it is actually close to true.
I’m thinking that the $200k number is wrong. Probably more like $2,000.00. I think there would be red flags if she tried to purchase money orders for big numbers. Typically these guys ask for $600-$700. Also, if she has $200k in cash, she doesn’t need the sweepstakes winnings or the new car. Unfortunately if these guys call enough old people they hit some with enough cognitive loss to sucker for this stuff.
I was getting calls from a dude in Jamaica, for whom English was his obvious second language, telling me that I had won $1 million and a new Mercedes. The same guy had called me a couple of months earlier with some other sweepstakes that I had supposedly won. That time I strung him along for a little bit but didn’t get to the point where he gave me an address to send money to before I was bored and didn’t answer the phone again. Must have been a dumb ass or didn’t have a good contact management system because he didn’t remember that he had called me before.
The second time I strung him along to see how it would play out. Turns out the taxes were nearly covered but I needed to provide $600 and change by money order for fees before Federal Express would deliver my winnings. I researched the people and address that he gave me and it turned out to be some sketchy people in Louisville, Kentucky. When I had enough fun with him and it became boring, I stopped taking the calls. He rang me for days after that, I’m sure wondering where his money was.
I think that law enforcement could easily track this stuff down, but because it crosses multiple jurisdictions they just say that they can’t. Their response is more laziness than anything. I even could do it. The FBI should have a unit that handles this as it is so prevalent.