Miami Area Woman Convicted Of Swindling $60k In Facebook Romance Scheme
Scams are everywhere, especially online and a Miami area woman has been convicted of swindling $60k in a Facebook romance scheme.
Every now and then on Instagram I’ll get messages trying to convince me they’ll be my sugar daddy. There are the scams asking if they can paint a mural of a photo on your feed. And there’s the military scams that are WAY more popular than you’d think. In fact, a friend of mine found out that his photo was used in over 67 military scams on the internet, and of course it wasn’t him doing the scamming. It’s not just happening here in Fort Myers, it’s happening everywhere.
Miami Woman Convicted Of Swindling $60k In Facebook Romance Scheme
This past Tuesday, authorities arrested Lisa Miller for scamming a 74-year-old into sending over $60,000. Local10 reports that Linda Bemis, the 74-year-old victim, was using Facebook. She was surprised to be connected to a handsome military man referred to as Mr. Bravo. Obviously, Mr. Bravo was not who he claimed to be, as we find out later that Bravo is in fact Miller, trying to get $60,000 out of Bemis.
Miller denied the accusations and mentioned to police that she was also scammed. As the story goes, Miller was lying to Bemis, saying that “Bravo” was stuck in Afghanistan and needed $50,000 to send his luggage through customs. Bravo convinced the victim sell her stake in her home and sell her car to obtain the money. Detectives said the money was spent over the course of a few months.
Even though this story sounds too crazy to be believable, it’s proof that it can happen to anyone. Scammers prey on emotions, so it’s important to be vigilant when it comes to connections on the internet.
Miller faces charges of theft from an elderly and organized fraud. She is currently behind bars awaiting sentencing.
Co-author: Jackson Sparkman
7 Florida Lottery Scratch Off Tickets That You May Want To Avoid
$100,000 MONEY MULTIPLIER
This was actually a cool little game. A $2 ticket that could win you $100,000. But all of those big winners are gone. There’s still 16 of the $1,000 winners available. It makes sense that the big winners are gone from this ticket as it’s at the end of it’s life. End Date: December 01, 2023. So even though it has a bit of a Christmas feel to this ticket, it’s probably not your best choice for a gift.
500X THE CASH
Here’s another ticket that’s nearing the end of it’s life, with a December 1 end date. This $50 ticket definitely made some headlines with it’s $25 million dollar grand prize. But those tickets are gone. And of the 160 $1 million dollar winning tickets, there’s only 4 of those left.
WHOLE LOTTA $500S
This ticket has been out for over a year and I really don’t recall ever seeing it at the counter. It’s a $5 ticket that could have scored you $500,000. But all of those top prizes have been paid out. There’s a few $10,000 winning tickets left – still not bad for a $5 ticket.
$2 MONOPOLY DOUBLER
A $2 ticket with a $100,000 top prize. And everybody loves Monopoly, right? Unfortunately, those are all gone. There’s a series of Monopoly Doubler tickets out there and all the other ones have top prizes still available. Just not the $2 one.
$1,000 A WK FOR LIFE
The “Week For Life” tickets are very popular, but this one has already been tapped. There’s 8 people out there already collecting the grand prize, and that’s it for that. You could still win $10 grand, which isn’t too shabby.
BILLION DOLLAR GOLD RUSH SUPREME
I’m still intrigued by the $30 card. It’s like the $20 cards aren’t enough, but you’re not ready for the $50 cards just yet. But this ticket has been played hard. All 4 of the $15 million, and all 24 of the $1 million winners are gone. There’s still 1 of the 20 $100,000 winning tickets left.
$5,000,000 CASHWORD
I admire anyone who plays these crossword style tickets. I’m always afraid I’m going to mess up, win big, and not even know it. The last time I had one, I took it to Publix and scanned the ticket to see if it won. Just in case. This $20 ticket had 8 big winners of the $5 million dollar prize, but all of those have been claimed. One of the 24 $1 million dollar winning tickets is still out there.
$1MM TRIPLE MATCH
This is the $5 version of the Triple Match series that just came out at the end of October. All 6 of the $1 million dollar winning tickets are still out there. And if you’re thinking “this ticket just came out last week, there’s no way any of the big winners have been sent out.” Well, that’d be wrong.
There’s a $10 version of this game with a $2 million dollar grand prize that’s already had one claimed. That ticket hit stores on October 30th, and by November 3rd someone had already claimed a 2 million dollar prize. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in Graceville, Florida. With a population of 2,278 there’s no way this person is gonna stay anonymous.
$50,000 TRIPLE MATCH
The $2 version of the Triple Match series. There’s 6 $50,000 winners, and all of them are out there. There’s also a $1 version of this game that’s already had 2 big winners hit last week. One in Miramar, and one in Apopka. Each of those scored 10 grand.
$5MM TRIPLE MATCH
The $20 version of this game, with a fairly hefty $5 million dollar grand prize. There’s 8 of those. These Triple Match games must be very popular, this one has already had 2 people claim the $1 million dollar secondary prize. One hit in Chipley at a Tom Thumb Store. The other in Melbourne at a 7-11. As I said, these Triple Match tickets are only a week old and are already paying out.
$1M YR/LIFE SPEC
I’ve been talking about this game for awhile now. This ticket came out back in February with a grand prize of a million dollars a year for life. There’s 2 of those grand prize tickets out there and neither have been claimed. This ticket even has a second chance contest, per the Florida Lottery website “Enter your non-winning YEAR FOR LIFE ($1, $2, $5, $10, and $50) Scratch-Off tickets into the FREE RIDE & FUEL FOR LIFE BONUS PLAY where 10 lucky winners will win free fuel for a year and a new Ford vehicle!”
There’s been a lot of $1 million dollar winners on this ticket, including Joan in Cape Coral – but the dream of winning a million dollars a year for life is still out there.
