Lottery ticket scam still finds victims

By ARNOLD MARKOWITZ

July 5, 2000 Web posted at: 12:12 PM EDT (1612 GMT)

In this story: Modus Operandi Cautious approach Identity Unknown RELATED STORIES

MIAMI, Florida (Miami Herald) -- Two weeks ago in Hialeah, two hustlers walked off with all of the money that Jose Menendez had in the world -- $75,000. Expecting to get it back soon, Menendez removed the cash from his safe-deposit box and handed it over as trust money, thinking he was helping an undocumented alien cash a $435,000 lottery ticket.

Three weeks ago in Bal Harbour, Nery del Carmen Salgero lost $5,000 -- a more typical amount -- the same way. She thought she was holding the money, hers and someone else's, in a plastic cosmetics bag until a winning ticket could be cashed. The bag contained only newspaper, cut in money-size pieces.

Menendez and Salgero are just two of many recent victims, apparently of several gangs that work the same way. They tell their tale only in Spanish: They need help cashing a winning lottery ticket because they're afraid of being deported. They say they're willing to share a percentage of the prize but need a few thousand up front.

In print, it looks phony. In person, it works.

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The swindlers' favorite ages are in the 80s, when victims' warning instincts may be slipping. Menendez is 75, Salgero 64.

Who are the crooks? Some of their names are known to the police, many unknown. Foreigners for sure, investigators think, and some of the slickest and most cold-hearted criminals now operating in the Miami area.

Sgt. John Roper, who directs Crime Stoppers in Miami-Dade County:

``It's bad enough they're messing with the lottery, but they're also preying on the elderly -- people living on Social Security and retirements. A lot of these victims came here as immigrants. When they hear the story, they feel sorry for them and want to help. One woman gave up a diamond wedding ring for these people.''

The con begins with a seemingly random approach, sometimes at a bus stop, often outside a bank.

The first hustler asks the victim the way to a certain lawyer's office, where help is needed with certain documents. A second hustler, pretending to be a stranger, says I know that lawyer; he's a thief. Say, maybe we can help you. What's your problem?

First hustler tells a tale of woe: I'm an illegal alien. If I try to cash the ticket, I'll be deported. Please help me. Second hustler pretends to call the Florida Lottery, saying a certain amount of money paid up front will take care of it. Soon the victim is persuaded to help. To be convincing, swindlers typically show victims a lottery ticket that looks like a winner in the previous day's drawing. It's a real ticket but has been altered -- maybe not well enough to fool an expert, but most people wouldn't notice.

Hialeah detective Ralph Garcia, who is investigating the Menendez swindle, said victims probably are chosen carefully:

``They hang out around banks and areas where you see old people congregating. They know at the end of the month they get their checks and stuff. They're following them. And these old people are very predictable. They have the same way of going around day in and day out. They don't change.''

Police figure Menendez was picked out that way. When the con men finally spoke to him, outside Bank of America on East 49th Street, they made sure they were out of range of the security cameras.

The lottery scam is almost as old as the Florida Lottery itself, but recently there have been so many victims in Miami-Dade that two investigators from the Florida Lottery's security office came to town last week to assist local police. Florida Lottery also posted a $10,000 reward for tips leading to the arrests of the swindlers. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 for each one caught.

Just one part of the scamsters' elaborate story line seems to be true: They really are in the country illegally.

``I'm under the impression they come here, operate a week or two and take off,'' said Garcia, the Hialeah detective. ``You can't be local and do this and expect not to bump into people who recognize you.''

Last Oct. 25, one of them made a rare mistake: walked into a Miami bank with a victim and got photographed by a security camera.

"It looks like he posed for it,'' said Sgt. Robert Suarez, leading a Miami city police investigation. That was eight months ago, and he still doesn't know the guy's name, much less where to find him.

Like Suarez, Miami-Dade detective Joe Naranjo is looking for a group that has been just as hard to find.

``They alter their appearances and use fictitious names and alter their credentials. Passports are a dime a dozen,'' Naranjo said. ``You're looking for a needle in a haystack.''

Naranjo is after four men and a woman, suspected of lottery flim-flams committed in county jurisdiction. All have been arrested before, so their names and dates of birth are known. Not much more, though. Two of them, Luz Mery Condono and Giovany Condono, could be related, but police aren't sure. Luis Fernando Osorio has a Florida driver's license, a Social Security number, even an address in Miami Beach. It's a real address, but not Osorio's, the detective said:

``They all use Beach addresses. In previous investigations, we've gone to the Beach, and it always comes up fruitless. Some of the addresses don't even exist.''

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