A Canadian woman who saved her elderly mother from falling victim to a lottery scam is so outraged by the situation she has gone public to try and ensure other people don't fall for the same lies that fooled her mother.
Diana Barnowich first discovered something was wrong on Thursday, May 15, 2014, when she received an early morning phone call from a staff member at her mother's assisted-living residence. Barnowich's mother was eager to post a large envelope and staff at the center had become worried about what the envelope may contain.
Barnowich rushed to the center, took a look inside the mysterious envelope, and found it contained a smaller envelope stuffed with CAD$ 2,500 in cash.
When she pressed her mother on the subject Barnowich learned the money was intended to pay for the release of a CAD$ 3 million Jamaican Lottery prize. She also learned her old mother had already mailed the scam artists five checks totaling CAD$ 11,300.
Barnowich rang her mother's bank and managed to prevent the payments going through, but the tricksters had come so close to pulling off their devious plan it set her blood boiling.
"I'm so upset someone would do this", Barnowich said. "We want to warn people—especially seniors—if someone calls you and says you won money from a lottery that you have never entered, it's a scam. They're so cunning. Don't get into a conversation. Just hang up immediately."
Western Canada Lottery Corporation spokesman Kevin van Egdom said: "A legitimate lottery doesn't find people and enter them into a draw. Anyone who asks you to pay money in advance to receive a prize, that's a scam."
