Elgin senior loses $60,000 in lottery scam

An 80-year-old Elgin woman was scammed out of $60,000 Monday by a couple claiming to need money as collateral so they could collect on a winning lottery ticket.

According to Elgin police reports, the incident began at about 11:30 a.m. in the 200 block of Dundee Avenue when a heavyset Hispanic man in his 40s and another Hispanic blonde woman in her 20s approached the victim, claiming to need $68,000 collateral so he could redeem a $26,000 lottery ticket.

In exchange for their help, the victim, whose primary language also is Spanish, was promised $9,000 of the winnings, reports said.

In the end, the three drove to three Chase banks two in Elgin and one in Carpentersville where the victim withdrew $15,000, $15,000 and $30,000 in cash, respectively.

Cherie Aschenbrenner, an Elgin police crime prevention specialist and elderly services officer, said Monday's scam is common in the Hispanic community.

“The victim trusts them because they're also Hispanic. They wouldn't think that person would do that to them. That's why it's so sad, Aschenbrenner said.

The web of lies continued when the pair told the woman not to tell the banks why she was withdrawing the money because the lottery would deduct 40 percent of the winnings, police reports said.

Finally, at about 3:30 p.m., they told the victim to go to a house in the 300 block of Center Street to get the remaining $8,000 from another person. No one was home there and the victim soon learned that the pair and her money were long gone.

Aschenbrenner said Illinois leaders enacted a law this past July mandating that bank staffs be trained twice a year to recognize the red flags that accompany this and other scams of the elderly. Through the training, tellers who see elderly people withdrawing a large amount of cash are urged to call police to investigate.

Aschenbrenner said she's trained the staffs at four Elgin banks and free appointments could be set up by calling (847) 289-2626.

“That's a lot to lose when you're 80 years old and you can't get that back, said Aschenbrenner, who noted the largest scam she's seen in Elgin resulted in a victim losing more than $80,000. “It could have been prevented possibly if the bank had questioned her as to why she was taking so much money out.

The bank manager at the Carpentersville Chase location declined to comment on the matter and whether his staff had received elderly scam training and referred inquiries to the Chase media relations office.

Christine Holevas, a Chase spokeswoman, could not immediately comment on the matter.