What Comes Around, Goes Around
A 78-year-old woman has allegedly spent the past six years stealing more than $500,000 from her friends, neighbors, and members of her church.
The victim of the classic Nigerian scam herself, Dorris Siegel just couldn't let go of the expectation of a winning jackpot. Duping her neighbors into believing that she was a lottery winner, Siegel promised them a double return on the money they loaned her. All of the people she has scammed have been essentially "cleaned out", police say.
Arrested yesterday, Siegel is being charged with organized fraud. Brooksville, Fla., Police Chief George Turner said he is expecting more victims "to come out of the woodwork" in the future, but wanted to put her in jail before she could steal any more money.
"We put her in jail mainly to protect other folks out there," he said.
Siegel has been told twice by police, in 2004 and 2008, that the Nigerian Lottery she believes she won is a scam.
"Because of her church affiliation, we thought we could trust her," said one of the victims. "We're finding out from other neighbors they had the same problem that we did."
Chief Turner reported that Siegel isn't delusional, but rather is aware that she was tricking her neighbors into giving her more money. Caught on a surveillance tape lying to some of the people she stole money from, Sigel admitted before her arrest that she had purposefully misled people to get their money.
"She knew this was a scam all along," Turner said. "She didn't use her own money to send over there" (to the Nigerian scammers).
Siegel had multiple stories as to why she needed the money. She told neighbors that she needed money for lotteries in Holland and Nigeria and to pay taxes on the money she'd won. She also claimed she needed the money for a Guatemalan charity she allegedly told them she had founded. The charity doesn't exist, police say.
In August 2008, Siegel flew with one of her victims to Amsterdam to meet with Nigerian businessmen. The victim paid $10,000 so that Siegel could "view her winnings". The men showed her a single $100 bill.
The case remains an open investigation and it is unknown if all of the money Siegel stole has been sent overseas.
Siegel is being held on $50,000 bond at the Hernando County Jail.
And if you pay her bail, she promises you'll get three times that amount back after she's released!
Sources: Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Bob in Illinois on March 27, 2010:
I really felt sorry for her victims all the money they lost… then I woke-up and realized like other people that have been taken some of them were greedy also and just gave away their money foolishly. As it is said "a fool and his money are soon parted."
Posted by Damian, Trinidad & Tobago on March 28, 2010:
With all these scams going around, it amazes me that people will willfully suspend simple beliefs in the hope that they will get rich quickly.
How in the world can I be told that I have won some obscure contest that I HAVE NEVER EVEN ENTERED? And if I did win a contest, why is there a cost somehow further attached to my winnings that can't somehow be deducted from said winnings instantly and the balance sent to me? Unbelievable!
Yet, people fall for theses scams every day. Really makes you wonder.