QUEENS — An 80-year-old woman handed $90,000 to two thieves who asked her to help them cash a winning lottery ticket, police said.
The incident took place at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 9, in front of a New York Community Bank branch at 80-35 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven, officials said.
The victim, who police said lives in Brooklyn, was in front of the bank when a woman in her early 40s got out of a Jeep Cherokee Latitude and asked her if she could help her cash the ticket.
The woman told the victim that the ticket was worth $167,000 but she couldn't cash it herself because she was an undocumented immigrant, authorities said.
While the two women were talking, a man wearing a pink shirt and jeans approached them and helped explain to the victim what she had to do to cash the ticket. The suspects told her that if she helped, she would get some portion of the money, officials said.
After the victim agreed, she went to the bank, got a cashier’s check for $90,000 and handed it to the suspects.
The thieves then drove the elderly woman to her house and asked her to show them a utility bill to prove that it was in fact her residence, according to the NYPD.
When the victim went into her house to get the documents, the duo fled, police said.
A police spokesman said they had no further information about how the scam worked.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
