A debt-stricken single mother to a young autistic daughter was baited by an elaborate online scam involving a phony millionaire lottery winner, South West News Service reported.
Dympna McKenna, 47, thought she had been in contact online with a pair who won the EuroMillions lottery in January and wanted to make use of a few of their nearly $77M fortune to assist her 10-year-old Dakota have a greater life.
“She has sleepless nights with anxiety. I’m all the time on her bed holding her hand. I can’t work,” the mom from Birmingham, England said.
The total-time caregiver in nearly $9,000 of debt “bared her soul” on Facebook to the presumed couple of Richard and Debbie Nuttall, each 54, through Facebook after being connected through a friend of a friend.
The Nuttalls are an actual couple from Lancashire who won the jackpot and had their identities impostered.
Eventually and after being pressed for private financial information, McKenna became smart that she was a part of nothing greater than a cruel ruse.
“For brand new lottery winners, why were they investing a lot time into messaging me? You’d be spending your money,” she added.
“How can an individual go from being an innocent baby to a monster? It’s disgusting … I’m indignant that these persons are doing this.”
Now, McKenna is sounding the alarm for others who could fall victim to the scam — one she spotted before it was too late.
“I feel sick for [the victims]. They might be losing 1000’s.”
Meanwhile, Allwyn, which operates the lottery, is doubling down on issuing caution for fraudulent scams like this.
“We’re aware that there are individuals and organizations that try and obtain payment or personal details from people under quite a lot of pretexts,” a spokesperson said, adding that the pretend Nutalls’ Facebook account has been deactivated.
“We’d urge people to keep in mind that, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.”
