Lottery Scam Costs Woman $10K, Police Warn Montgomery County Residents

GERMANTOWN, MD — A woman inadvertently gave $10,000 to scam artists who said it would guarantee payout of a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, authorities said.

Montgomery County Police on Friday released photos of the suspects, who approached the victim at a T.J. Maxx store in the 20900 block of Frederick Road in Germantown. The theft occurred on April 10, and police want residents to be aware of the scheme.

According to a police report, the victim was approached at the store by two female suspects, who asked her if she spoke Spanish. When the victim said she did, the pair asked for directions to a church in the area that helps immigrants.

Eventually, the victim and suspects sat in the victim’s car and continued their conversation. One suspect began to cry as she claimed she had a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, but she could not claim the prize because of her undocumented immigration status.

The women called a third suspect, who pretended to work for the “lottery company.” The bogus lottery worker said the first woman could claim her lottery prize if she had guarantors come to an office in Rockville with a large amount of cash, “like $10,000 each,” the police report said.

The second suspect left the car and returned about 20 minutes later with $10,000 in cash. The scammers then asked the victim if she could contribute another $10,000 to guarantee the Mega Millions payout. The victim drove to her home, retrieved $10,000 in cash and put the money in her vehicle's glovebox, police said.

At that point, one of the women complained of a stomachache and asked the victim to drive to a drugstore. The victim went into the drug store to buy medicine and when she returned about 3 minutes later, the two suspects were gone and they had taken the $10,000 in the glovebox, investigators said.

Detectives believe the suspects are likely targeting older or vulnerable victims.

Anyone with information about the suspects or this crime is asked to contact the 5th District Investigations Section at 240-773-6237 or contact Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the suspects. Callers may remain anonymous.