Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

9:17 p.m. • 6-18-13

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Wed: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 85° F
  • Thu: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 85° F
  • Fri: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 85° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Published: 2013-03-11 13:03:00
Updated: 2013-03-11 23:55:42

Some money lost in scam returned to Raleigh woman


US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
print friendly

The family of an elderly Raleigh woman defrauded of nearly $200,000 by Jamaican scam artists received a $45,000 check Monday, authorities said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Jamaican Constabulary Force recovered the money for her as part of Project JOLT, which combats Jamaica-based telemarketing fraud.

The 92-year-old woman received information in May 2012 that she had won a lottery prize, and a man later contacted her and said she owed $9,000 in taxes and other expenses to receive her prize.

Her son-in-law, Wayne Rettinger said the phone calls continued and the demands for money increased.

"We quit answering the phone," he said. "We got hundreds of phone calls. They would call every five minutes."

The scam artists cheated her out of nearly $200,000 before she reported the scam to law enforcement, authorities said.

Authorities were able to locate a bank account at the National Commercial Bank in Jamaica where the woman's money had been deposited and were able to get about $45,000 of it back.

The case remains under investigation.

"This is what they're job is," Tom O'Connell, resident agent-in-charge of ICE in Raleigh, said of the scam artists. "Every day, every hour, they're operating phones, cellphones, the Internet – just blasting away at phones – and if it takes them 10,000 calls to get one person to send them $200,000, that's what their job is."

Since the inception of Project JOLT, investigations have resulted in 149 arrests, 10 indictments and six convictions, as well as the seizure of more than $1.2 million in assets and the repatriation of more than $251,000, authorities said.


14 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 14 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
The scammed lady is the most generous lady I know. She is sooo far from greedy as some people have suggested.

Really? Its the greedy people that goes for these "scams." For the elderly, family should be watchful in all that they do. Family should be in charge once they do foolish things like this.

She is lucky to have gotten anything back. May she and others learn from this.

If a deal sounds to good to be true, think about it first, because it usually is.

The scammed lady is the most generous lady I know. She is sooo far from greedy as some people have suggested. She trusts everyone. no matter what. I've known her 30+ years. Yes, she is getting what was recovered back. No. not what she lost. Yes, now her family is helping keep an eye out. She's over 90 and can still beat me in scrabble. She simply fell for it and they stole her identity. I would love to meet the scammers face to face.

Why did the family get the money returned and not the woman that was defrauded? Or was the family members not paying attention until they realized she had spent the money they thought was coming to them

View Comments VIEW ALL 14 COMMENTS