SPARTANBURG, S.C. -
Sometimes the urge to believe you've struck it big is so powerful, it overrides even a warning from family.
"Mother don't believe that."
That's what Pat Hasty told her 86-year-old mother when she mentioned she hit the jackpot.
"She told me she had won 1 million dollars and a Mercedes Bens and it was going to be delivered to the house."
Hasty told us her mother didn't want to head her warnings "because the scammer was so good."
What happened next has left the whole family scrambling to pick up the pieces. The Hastys learned their mother had made nearly 100 calls to Jamaica totaling more than 700 dollars, small change compared to the $7000 she wired to that scammer for what she thought was tax payments on her winnings.
We asked:
"Are you frustrated that you couldn't get to her before she sent that money."
"Yeah, I'm very frustrated that she sent money before we could get to her, yeah. That's frustration because now we've had to freeze bank accounts, open new ones, contact insurance companies about drafts that came out of those accounts," said Hasty.
If you're trying to convince a family member that a lottery winning is a scam, or if you're unsure yourself, know this: Anything that originates from outside the US is a fake, so if you have to call Jamaica or if the voice on the other end of the phone is foreign, it's a big red flag.
Hasty's mom didn't want to appear on camera or have her name mentioned. Her daughter says she's a smart woman who ran her own business for 3 decades.
"I just thought, ah! They did that to my mom!"
She warns, if it can happen to her mom it could happen to anyone.
Sometimes the urge to believe you've struck it big is so powerful, it overrides even a warning from family.
