Washoe County Sheriff Deputy recovers scammed woman's $9,000

A Washoe County Sheriff’s Deputy investigating the recent phone scam of an elderly Sun Valley woman worked with the United States Postal Inspection Service and Royal Canadian Mounted Police to recover $9,000 in losses for the victim. The details of this case provide important warning signs for all residents.

On Saturday, March 26, 2016, a sixty-year-old Sun Valley woman contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report a possible case of phone fraud. The woman explained she had been entering the Publishers Clearinghouse for years and that on March 24 she was contacted by a person who identified himself as Robert Miller. Miller said that she had just won $1.8 million from Publishers Clearinghouse.

Miller told the victim that she would need to pay a registration fee along with more than $2,000 in taxes on her winnings. The victim provided Miller with financial information in order to make those payments.

The victim said that she was re-contacted by Miller later that day and Miller put her in touch with another man identified as a banker named Michael Churchill. Churchill congratulated the victim on her winnings and told her that was also getting a Mercedes-Benz for registering so quickly.

According to the victim, Churchill then told her that they had deposited $9,000 into her bank account. She said she was instructed to withdraw the $9,000 and send it by overnight mail to a Keith Richardson at a post office box in Alberta, Canada. The victim did as instructed.

The victim said she was once again contacted by Miller and Churchill on the following day, March 25. This time she was told that they had deposited an additional $14,000 in her account and she was to send that $14,000 to Keith Richardson in Canada. The victim said that when she hesitated, Churchill became very upset with her and told her she would not receive the $1.8 million if she did not pay the additional $14,000.

The victim said she was re-contacted by Miller and Churchill on Saturday, March 26. Despite assurances that she was receiving money to cover her expenses, the victim grew suspicious. After talking with family members the victim contacted her bank. According to the victim, her bank records showed that no money had been deposited into her account. The scammers, who now had access to her account information, had simply moved money around from one account to another.

The victim immediately closed her bank accounts and contacted the Sheriff’s Office.

The Deputy assigned to the case immediately began tracking the package containing the victim’s 9,000 dollars. The Deputy worked with U.S. Postal Inspectors, the Canadian Post Office, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to successfully locate the package. The $9,000 was returned to the victim by a U.S. Postal Inspector.

The Deputy also attempted to track the phone numbers used to contact the victim. The number Robert Miller was calling from traced back to a cellphone in Kingston, Jamaica. Other numbers related to this investigation led to dead ends.

Unfortunately the victim still lost more than $2,000 as a result of this scam.

The details of this investigation are not uncommon for this type of lottery scam and it is important for residents to be on the lookout for, and wary of, this kind of fraudulent activity. Some important tips to help protect against these crimes include:

Keep your credit card, checking account, or Social Security numbers to yourself. Don't give them to callers you don't know — even if they ask you to “confirm” this information.

Don’t send cash by messenger, overnight mail, or money transfer. If you use cash or a money transfer — rather than a credit card — you may lose your right to dispute fraudulent charges. The money will be gone.

Don’t agree to any offer for which you have to pay a “registration” or “shipping” fee to get a prize or a gift.