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Thieves pretend to be illegal aliens with a winning lottery ticket and ask victims for help.
By BABITA PERSAUD
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 6, 2001
TAMPA -- Thieves are tricking innocent victims out of thousands of dollars in a scam involving Florida Lottery tickets.
Tampa police are investigating seven cases involving the scam, which targets mostly elderly Hispanics. Most of the cases were reported in the past two weeks.
Police and Florida Lottery officials held a news conference Wednesday to warn the public: Don't fall prey to the Pigeon Dropper scam.
One woman who nearly became a victim wore dark glasses during the news conference at Tampa Police Headquarters and gave only her first name, Linda, for fear of it happening again.
She said she was shopping at Publix on Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa in August 2000 when a Hispanic woman approached her.
"Do you speak Spanish?" the woman asked.
"Yes," Linda said.
The woman showed her a winning lottery ticket, said she was in the country illegally and needed money to hire a lawyer so she could claim her winnings.
Could Linda spare $5,000?
The woman told Linda to call Lottery officials, directed her to a pay phone and dialed the number for her.
What the scam artist didn't know was that Linda was an old hand at the lottery. She won $2,450 in 1988. She knew the procedure, so she quickly backed out.
She reported the incident to police, exactly what authorities want.
The scam, which has been around for at least five years, got the name Pigeon Dropper from carrier pigeons. In training the pigeons, a dropper is an instrument or pigeon used to lure a flying bird to dive and drop his package.
Authorities issued similar public warnings a year ago, but the number of incidents picked up in recent weeks, police said.
Most cases have been in Hispanic communities. The victims are approached in parking lots, usually when they are busy. In Tampa, the scam has been pulled in parking lots on Dale Mabry Highway, Hillsborough Avenue and Columbus Drive.
One Tampa victim lost $20,000, another $15,000.
Police believe the thieves are organized, traveling from city to city.
"They have it down to a fine art," said police Detective Bill Todd.
Florida has 75 cases, mostly in Tampa, Orlando and Miami.
The scam is a tag team operation, with a woman making the initial contact, a man on the telephone verifying the lottery ticket and another man posing as a stranger. He offers a wad of cash -- usually in an envelope or Bible -- to entice the victim to offer more.
The money, however, is fake. But that's what the victim is left holding when it is all over.
Despite what the scam artists claim, the only criterion for cashing a winning lottery ticket is that you are 18 or older, Lottery officials said. Illegal aliens are eligible to win, said Teresa Fenno, special agent training coordinator with the Florida Lottery.
Lottery officials will begin airing public service announcements on television this month and distributing pamphlets in Hispanic neighborhoods.