Lottery scammers steal $18K in jewelry

In what appears to be a wellcoordinated variation of a notorious lottery scam, at least three people were involved in the con that cost an 80-year-old woman more than $18,000 worth of her jewelry, according to Davie police.

Investigators Tuesday released surveillance images of two of the people involved, and their vehicle, in the hopes of generating leads in the case.

It was just before 1 p.m. on Feb. 21 when the scam artists parked a late-model, white Mitsubishi Outlander Sport in the Publix parking lot at 8842 W. State Road 84 and waited for the woman who was leaving the store and walking toward her vehicle — parked in a space reserved for disabled drivers.

A woman wearing a visor and carrying a purse across her left shoulder got out of the SUV

and began talking with the woman. According to police, she told the woman she had just won $480,000 in a Florida Lottery game “and was looking for a lawyer.” At nearly the same time, another woman joined the conversation and the two put a cellphone call — supposedly to a lottery official — on speaker.

“They spoke to a male who told them that in order to retrieve the money...they needed to invest cash or jewelry,” a police incident report said.

Investigators think the man on the phone was the person seen on security surveillance

with shortcropped hair, sunglasses over his head and wearing a Bluetooth-type device in his ear.

The two women told the victim that if she helped them, they would give her $10,000 of the lotto winnings, police said. She agreed.

As the victim drove the women to her residence, the white Mitsubishi followed.

Inside her home, the woman showed her new acquaintances a $10,000 diamond ring and a pair of white and gold earrings worth $5,000 — but the two women said they needed more, according to police.

Eventually, they had $18,600 worth of jewelry and placed it inside a plastic bag so all three could go to the “Florida Lotto Office.”

Outside, the two women told the victim she might want to get a bottle of water before driving them to the lotto office in case the process took a while.

“When she walked back outside, the females were gone,” the incident report said.

The two women left no fingerprints inside the victim’s home, but investigators have been probing surveillance video recorded by security cameras outside Publix.

Investigators ask anyone who can identify the people involved or have any information about this crime to call the Davie Police Department at 954-693-8200.