The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 10, 2008

Canadian lottery scam leads to theft charge

By Joe Pinchot

SHENANGO VALLEY —

A Sharpsville man who has fallen on hard times thought that a letter informing him he had won the Canadian lottery was a gift from God, Hermitage police said.

He allegedly turned it into a ticket to trouble.

Even after a banker told Kenneth P. Jeffries, 57, of 11 E. Shenango St., the letter was a scam and the check that accompanied it was fake, he went ahead and cashed the check at another bank, police said.

Jeffries has been charged with theft and forgery.

Jeffries actually launched the investigation on himself when he told police May 30 he might have been the victim of a scam and the perpetrator of a crime, police said.

Police gave this account:

Jeffries received the letter in mid-May and a check for $3,550. The letter said he had won $100,000, but he had to send a $3,050 tax payment to Newfoundland to receive the prize.

Jeffries took the documents to First National Bank of Pennsylvania’s Sharpsville branch and manager Brian Nespor told him the letter was a scam and the check was fake.

While Jeffries later claimed Nespor told him to try another bank, Nespor told police he had shown Jeffries an FBI advisory about such scams.

Jeffries took the check May 23 to the First National branch at Walmart in Hermitage, deposited it into his savings account, withdrew $3,050 and sent it to Newfoundland.

Jeffries told police he didn’t cash the check. In his account of the transaction, he put it on the counter, the teller told him to sign it and she gave him the money. Jeffries acknowledged taking the money.

A First National employee contacted Jeffries a few days later, informed him the check was fake and his account had been frozen, and told him he owed $2,000.

Jeffries told police he is “impoverished,” his wife is disabled, and he has been unable to find a job as a social worker. He considered winning the money an act of God, police said.

Jeffries and the bank could not agree to a plan for repayment, and Jeffries has repaid no money, police said.

Jeffries was arraigned Wednesday by District Judge Ronald E. Antos, Farrell, and released on his own recognizance. His preliminary hearing was set for 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The Canadian lottery pitch is a common scam. At a seminar for seniors a year ago, Hermitage patrolman Sherryl Giles said other Mercer Countians have fallen victim to this type of scam.

She warned that anything originating from another country makes it harder for police to track. Anytime someone is said to have won something they did not enter, the pitch probably is bogus. Legitimate contests do not require up-front money in order to receive a prize, she said.

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