News writer
Scams can drain residents of their hard-earned money. We often see these perpetrators targeting unsuspecting victims by using deceptive stories to execute their schemes, which is what the police in New York are warning their residents about.
The lottery scam
No matter how many people are arrested for trying to pull off these scams, new people come around and continue to try to scam innocent people out of money.
There is a scam currently making its way through the streets of New York and it involves the lottery, as the NYPD’s Crime Prevention Division reported.
In a post on the NYPD News account on X, the NYPD warned residents to keep an eye out for this trending crime.
Law enforcement officials provided a breakdown of the scam, which apparently has the suspected scammer approaching you on the street claiming to have a winning lottery ticket. However, they’re unable to cash it.
That is where you, the prospective person to be scammed, comes in. They offer to share the winnings with you, which there are no winnings to share, if you make a cash deposit.
The NYPD is advising citizens that they should never give any unknown individuals their money or other valuable items.
Scams targeting senior citizens
It seems like there has been an uptick in scams on Staten Island, authorities said. It is driving crime across the borough, as District Attorney Michael E. McMahon talked about during a “National Slam the Scam Day” event back in March.
McMahon said that scams targeting senior citizens have cost Staten Island-based victims more than $2.6 million in 2023.
Three lucky players not needing to scam for a win
While these scammers are trying to take money from the innocent, the New York Lottery announced three lucky players recently hit it big playing different draw games (and didn’t have to scam anyone for the win)!
The first big winner was a third-prize-winning ticket sold for the September 18 Powerball drawing. The $50,000 ticket was purchased at Hartley Pharmacy, located at 1219 Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan.
The winning white ball numbers for that drawing were 1, 11, 22, 47, and 68, and the Powerball number was 7. The lucky winner matched four of the white ball numbers and the Powerball number to win the $50,000 prize.
The next big winners came from the Take 5 evening drawing on September 18, the lottery announced. The winning numbers for that draw were 14, 15, 17, 26, and 39.
Two lucky tickets happened to match all five of the numbers to split the game’s top prize. The two winning tickets were purchased at:
- Skyview Newsstand, located at 4024 College Point Blvd. in Flushing, and
- Rockland Mini Mart, located at 31 Lafayette Ave. in Suffern.
Each of the top-prize winning tickets was worth $16,646. None of the winners have come forward to claim their winnings yet, but draw game prizes must be claimed within one year of the draw date.
Enjoy playing the New York Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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