VENTURA : Female Swindler Victimizes Woman

A 69-year-old Ventura woman has fallen prey to a scam in which the victim hands over money to a stranger, who promises thousands of dollars in return, police said.

The woman, whose name they withheld, was shopping in the 100 block of South Hurst Street about 1 p.m. when she was approached by a female swindler in the April Fools’ Day incident.

The suspect showed the victim a large sum of money, telling her that it was lottery winnings, police said.

After convincing the victim that she couldn’t deposit the money because she was an undocumented alien, the woman duped the victim into giving her an undisclosed sum on the premise that she would get thousands of dollars in return, police said.

The woman fled on foot with the money after distracting the victim, police said.

A 71-year-old Ventura man was victimized in a similar hoax in early December, police said.

In that incident, a woman accompanied by a male accomplice, told the victim that she had a lottery ticket with five winning numbers but could not redeem it because of her undocumented status.

The male gave his female accomplice an envelope that he said contained $13,000, and he asked the victim to do the same to show that he was trustworthy. The victim said he did not have that much cash, so he gave the woman $5,000 worth of jewelry instead.