By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
RIVERVIEW — A 70-year-old Riverview man reported March 6 that he was defrauded out of $3,800 by a con artist who said he had won a multi-million-dollar sweepstakes but had to pay the taxes on it before the winnings were released.
The victim sent money orders as directed, but became suspicious when the caller told him to take a loan out for an additional $8,000 from a financial institution in Wayne, where a puzzled employee said four other people had come to their location with similar backstories.
The address where the victim sent the money orders turned out to be a vacant rental property. The property owner said they were unaware that their address was being used to perpetrate a fraud.