Local man victim of prize scam
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on June 24, 2016 1:46 PM
A local man fell victim to a fraud scheme after transferring $100 to an unknown person promising him that he had been selected to win $2.4 million and a Mercedes.
Marlon Lopez went for a job interview Wednesday at World Class Systems on East Ash Street and received a call from a 876-470-1293 phone number.
A man on the other end of the line identified himself as a manager of an unspecified company and said his name was Robert Gonzales. The man claiming to be Gonzales then transferred Lopez to a man who claimed to be a chief executive officer or chief financial officer of the unspecified company, who identified himself only as "David." This unknown man said the company was located in Las Vegas and told Lopez he was one of 10 people in North Carolina selected to win $2.4 million and a Mercedes.
The man then told Lopez all he had to do to receive the prizes was wire $100 from a Walmart in Goldsboro to a Walmart in Georgia.
Lopez sent the money from the Walmart on Spence Avenue to a Walmart in Georgia by way of a moneygram. He has received several calls from the same phone number since the incident on Wednesday, but has not answered.
"Most of the time these phone numbers are spam numbers, or they're spoof numbers, to where even if you call the number back they don't connect you to the right person," said Maj. Tom Effler with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office warned residents of Wayne County in early May about scams similar to the one Lopez fell victim to this week.
The sheriff's office is reminding residents that if someone calls you and tells you that you won a large amount of money, or a car, but must pay taxes or a service charge before receiving the prize, that it is a scam. It is not possible to win a prize if you did not enter a contest.
Anyone with information about this crime, or any other crime in Wayne County is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 919-735-2255 or text at 919-222-4230. Callers will remain anonymous and if your information leads to a felony arrest you will be given a cash reward for the information.