Bait and Ditch

13000 WHITTIER BLVD | WHITTIER
WED | AUG 22 4:30 PM

From the Whittier PD: A 67-year-old woman was out for some mid-afternoon shopping when she was startled by a middle-aged man asking for directions. The woman couldn’t send him to where he wanted to go, but was convinced to offer him a ride when a second man approached claiming to know how to get to the location. During the car ride, the first man went on to explain that he had a winning Lotto ticket worth $359,000—but that he couldn’t cash it because he was an undocumented immigrant. Desperate for that money, the man asked the woman to cash the ticket on his behalf—she eventually agreed. She was also convinced to withdraw $16,000 from her bank account as “good faith” money, as the man told her he would not only pay her back, but also give her an additional $15,000 for her help. This seemed to sit a little too well with one of the men, however, as he asked the woman to stop by a drug store so he could pick up medicine for his upset stomach. The woman agreed and followed the two men into the store—but lost sight of them once inside. Suspicious, the woman opened the envelope supposedly holding the winning ticket—it was filled with newspaper.