JENSEN BEACH — An 80-year-old woman discovered she was the victim of a scam, after bank employees called deputies because of the frequent number of times she withdrew large amounts of cash, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office report.

The manager of the National City Bank in Jensen Beach contacted deputies Tuesday after an elderly female customer had been withdrawing large amounts of cash and said she was sending it to friends and family, according to the report.

After the bank manager contacted the woman’s daughter in Ohio and found out her customer wasn’t sending money to family, she called deputies while the woman was at the bank trying to withdraw $1,000, according to the report.

The elderly woman told deputies she won a large sweepstakes from a publisher’s clearinghouse and was contacted by phone to wire money several times to Las Vegas. She was told she was going to receive a check for $625,000 on Tuesday, according to the report.

The woman made a total of eight transactions totaling $22,172, which she sent via Western Union transfers, according to the report.

While at the bank talking to deputies, one of the suspects called her phone. When the woman told the person she was at the bank talking to law enforcement, the person hung up, according to the report.

Deputies are investigating the incident.

By Monique Mattiace, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — An 81-year-old man reported he was scammed out of $12,000 after he received a call that he had won $5.5 million.

The Port St. Lucie resident told police he had recently received a call from a Las Vegas stock and mortgage broker company notifying him of his winnings.

The caller said the man would have to prepay for state taxes and for hotel and flight reservations before collecting the money, according to a police report.

So from March 17 to April 7, the man went to a Winn Dixie and made 26 wire transfers totaling $12,000, he told officers. The money was wired to different places in Jamaica, Arizona, Florida and Nevada, he said.

The man said he became suspicious after he didn’t receive the winnings and he called police.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Police are looking for a man accused of posing as a Wal-Mart employee selling LCD television sets at a discount.

One woman said she met the man wearing a Wal-Mart ID tag with the name “Bill” on it at Tina’s Café, according to police. There he talked about how the discount store had received five extra 40-inch televisions and was selling them at the invoice price of $319, down from $699, according to a police report.

The woman said she met “Bill” at the Wal-Mart on U.S. 1 and gave him $320 in cash. She and another man who also said he paid for a television stood outside the store waiting for “Bill,” who had gone inside to fill out paperwork, he told them.

After about an hour, the woman and the other man went inside the store to look for the television seller. A manager at the store then called police. (more…)