Deaf man sells home after being conned out of thousands on Facebook
A DEAF man is being forced to sell his home after internet scammers tricked him into believing he won a special lottery.
Kenneth Newman, 50, was born deaf and communicates using sign language.
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Kenneth Newman
However, thanks to the internet, he can easily communicate with friends across the globe using social networking sites.
In January, he was befriended by a woman on Facebook who called herself Sandra Owen.
She claimed she was deaf and had won £750,000 on the “United Nations Deaf Lottery”, but after paying £5,000 as a fee to receive the money, her prize money went up to £1.2million.
She forwarded the e-mail address of the supposed lottery organiser, Harry Thomas, to Mr Newman.
After contacting him, Mr Newman was told — having passed on his bank account details — that he had won £600,000.
Mr Newman was told to forward £300 via Western Union to an address in Lagos, Nigeria.
However, Mr Newman, a technical officer at Derriford Hospital, was then told he needed to find about £30,000 for “government fees” before he could receive his full winnings.
He took out a number of loans, secured against his Estover flat, but “Harry” would text him each time explaining he needed more, concocting various stories to encourage Mr Newman’s efforts.
Only after a meeting with his bank regarding life assurance was the con spotted — and Mr Newman was urged to contact police.
By this time, the crooks had hacked into Mr Newman’s Facebook site, so it appeared as if he was telling all his friends — particularly his deaf friends — that he had won £600,000 on a lottery for the deaf.
Investigators are trying to track down the crooks, but admit there is little hope of retrieving the money.
PC Michael Loveys said: “He has been sucked in by these people and they went on to try and target friends of his.
“There’s no such thing as a deaf and disabled person’s lottery. There are a number of scams like this out there. Lots and lots of people have been scammed, but if you haven’t entered a lottery, then you haven’t won.
“What is most appalling is that these criminals are specifically targeting vulnerable people.”
Mr Newman, speaking with assistance from his friend, British Sign Language interpreter Helen Doyle, said: “About £26,000 is gone from six loans. My flat’s been remortgaged and I now have to sell my flat. I hope I will be able to find another place.
“I want to warn other people, both deaf and hearing people, not to be taken in by these lottery scams. Say no to them, don’t contact them and remove them from your Facebook page.
“For the last three months, it was hell. I’m doing better now, thanks to the support of my friends, but it will take me years to pay off these debts.”
Ms Doyle said: “We keep telling Kenneth to stay positive. If I wasn’t here, I think he would be gone by now. Kenneth wants to warn others, to save them the same fate. He hopes he can save others by revealing what happened to him.”
Anyone with information about the scam should call police on 08452 777444 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference number EL/10/1320.
For more information on scams, visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/watch_out/ or call Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 for advice.
22 Comments
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by Lars Winter, Germany
Saturday, April 02 2011, 8:32PM
“This scam is now recieved in Germany with the other tricks. (translated by google)
Kelly is interested in your career goals. You tell her about your job, your idea, provide barrier-free service for the deaf. She reports that her father had died, had left her an inheritance, but it had imposed a condition that they must be married so the money can be released. Are you already married? Never mind, in the U.S., a second marriage is allowed. Of course, the inherited millions are then both of you.
This raises a couple of small problems. The bank needs to money for education fees, transfer, inheritance, etc. Kelly has the money, unfortunately not. If the beautiful million loss? She asks you for help and about the money via Western Union or Money Gram to send.....”
by Lars Winter, Germany
Saturday, April 02 2011, 8:31PM
“This scam is now recieved in Germany with the other tricks, not Deaf Lottery anymore. (translated by google)
Kelly is interested in your career goals. You tell her about your job, your idea, provide barrier-free service for the deaf. She reports that her father had died, had left her an inheritance, but it had imposed a condition that they must be married so the money can be released. Are you already married? Never mind, in the U.S., a second marriage is allowed. Of course, the inherited millions are then both of you.
This raises a couple of small problems. The bank needs to money for education fees, transfer, inheritance, etc. Kelly has the money, unfortunately not. If the beautiful million loss? She asks you for help and about the money via Western Union or Money Gram to send.”
by Gee, Berkshire
Thursday, May 27 2010, 12:56AM
“The point you "computer savvy" people seem to be missing is that this man is deaf. Without having any understanding of the deaf community it would appear that he was a "silly person" for trusting these people with what may appear to be so obvious to those who are hearing.
Those thieves preyed on this man's vulnerability and obvious displaced trust on those that are hearing, that if it says he has won then why would a person you lie?
I for one am saddened that he was ripped off and wish that the police would finally crack down on these Nigerian con artists that have given their country or should I say "ConTry" such a bad reputation.”
by Dan, eggbuckland
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 8:23PM
“All the best lotteries are held in Nigeria. This guy obviously lied to the bank to get the loan because no way would they give that much money to send to Nigeria. You dont need to be Internet savvy to know how the world works... when do you ever need to send that much money to get more money back? silly!”
by Leigh, Plynouth
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 3:27PM
“@Emily- people seem to be missing my point regarding the disability issue. Do you think there is a list of emails that people can buy that are exclusively of disabled people?the main point of these scams is that they saturate peoples inboxes with this rubbish and percentages game states that there will always be a mug that responds.
Pure and simple gullibility is the biggest problem here!”
by Emily, Plymouth
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 1:58PM
“I personally have received a large number of emails over the past few weeks telling me I had won money and needed to send my details so they could send me my money. I even received one trying to obtain my personal information by saying I had an inheritance from a relative who had died and I was the only known realtive they could pass it on to (I knew this was a scam when he said to send my information to his/her personal email address) Needless to say I was disgusted at the poor taste and extent people will go to to get your personal information and this is another awful example, taking advantage of someone with a disability (Leigh, I am not singling 'deaf' people out - Dave is correct in that they will gain the trust of someone with a disability regardless off what it may be in a way of building rapport). This guy has learnt a very hard lesson and probably never trust anyone again - which is probably no bad thing.”
by Leigh, Plymouth
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 1:21PM
“@nigel: I said no obvious visual disability. I also mentioned that I am deaf, must admit not hearing the mrs most of the time is a major benefit.”
by nikki, st budeaux.
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 12:57PM
“DAN..the few who do laugh at others misfortunes are low..but these scams have been going a very long time.and yes its true if you not very good with internet it can be confusing..but thse scams are not just over internet there sent through the post as well.and plenty have been conned into believing they have won.they always seem to get people to fall for there scams who are either elderly or not up to date with all this jargon.”
by dan, plymouth
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 12:43PM
“WOW again at the responses on these boards.
A man has been the victim of a crime and this is how we treat them. Ok to someone who is internet savy would see this as a scam straight away but if there not then i can see how such a mistake can be made.
this could happen to anyone deaf or not. Would the responses be the same if it was an elderly person?.
but in all seriousness you have all won the idiot response lotto of 20000 ugandan dollars.”
by nikki, st budeaux
Tuesday, May 18 2010, 12:32PM
“good grief..i get these sorts off scams on a daily basis through my email addy.i just block them all.the only people who win the lottery in these cases are the scammers who manage to prey on gulliable people.
but can i say.after getting one off these scams we contcted the number they gave us.and we found out they were based in london.so why are the police doing nothing??”