US journalist seeks victims of lotto scam

American journalist, Dan Rather, is seeking to get persons with information regarding the multi-billion dollar lottery scam to provide him with information as he tries to expose the activity in the US media.



Yesterday, Rather released a teaser for a series on the scam which will begin airing on his weekly newsmagazine program Dan Rather Reports on AXS TV on March 12.



The journalist noted that during a visit to Jamaica, Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, told his team that many in Jamaica, view the lottery scam as a victimless crime because Jamaicans never hear the victims’ sides of the story.



In the snippet released by Rather, he introduces one of the many American victims of the lottery scam.



The senior citizen said the first call that he had won $2.5 million offered a lifeline, as he was facing tough financial times with a wife who was battling cancer and dementia.



However, he ended up losing about US$400,000 and his house, on which he had taken out a loan to pay the scammers.



The report by Dan rather says conservative estimates put losses as a result of the lottery scam in the hundreds of millions of dollars a year.



He says the scam’s elderly victims can be found in every state of the union.

The US Senate is about to hold hearings on the problem.



Last week, the national security minister tabled legislation in the Jamaican parliament aimed at improving prosecution in relation to scamming.



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