Crime & Safety

New Canaan Man Reports Sweepstakes Fraud Calls

A Mortimer Street residence told police that he received a call prompting him to wire tax money in order receive sweepstakes winnings.

responded to a complaint by a 79-year-old Mortimer Street resident after he deemed a call that his wife won the Publishers' Clearinghouse sweepstakes as fraudulent, according to Sgt. Vince DeMaio.

The complainant told police that he received a call at his residence on the afternoon of April 3 from an individual telling him that his wife won $75,000 and that he would come by at 10:30 a.m. the next morning in a yellow truck similar to a FedEx truck to deliver the money, DeMaio said. The caller told the complainant that he had to pay an unspecified amount of taxes on his wife's winnings before the delivery and instructed him to wire the money via Western Union.

DeMaio said that officers were sent to the complainant's home at the time the caller said he would arrive, but no one showed up. The complainant then received a second call from the suspect, who told him that he would meet him later that day at the intersection of Old Stamford Road and Weed Street at 1:30 p.m. Units arrived at the designated meeting place, but again, the caller didn't show up, according to DeMaio.

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Officers traced the first phone call to a Skype address in Los Angeles, while the second phone call came from phone number based in Jamaica. DeMaio said that the has received several reports from residents who received similar calls and have a suspect in mind, but no arrests have been made.


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