Another victim has fallen prey to the Publisher’s Clearing House scam in our area.
Stratford Police say they were contacted on Monday by a Perth South resident who said they had been scammed out of over $30,000.
The victim said they were contacted on February 11th by a male who identified himself as an employee with Publisher’s Clearing House and said that the man was the winner of a $12,000,000 prize.
The victim was first directed to send money to the caller through prepaid Visa cards to pay for the taxes on the prize money.
After the money was sent, the victim suspected the situation was a scam and refused to send any more funds.
They were later contacted by a second individual and arrangements were made to send money through various bank accounts.
Police say they believe that the scammers gained access to the victim’s bank account and made it appear that money was being deposited, with the victim then being asked to forward those funds to various accounts.
Several transfers were sent which totaled $32,500 until the victim’s account was frozen by his financial institution.
An investigation into what happened continues.
