Lured by the promise of winning a fortune in a “deaf lottery,” an elderly, deaf Windsor Locks man sent scammers $51,000 in late February.
Local police, who are working with the FBI and law enforcement in other states, are trying to collar the con artists behind what is now a nationwide scheme targeting the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Windsor Locks Det. Sgt. Jeff Lampson said Thursday that the scam has surfaced in at least four states and there are likely more victims who have not come forward. But Lampson acknowledged that making arrests will be a challenge, in part because the stolen money was converted into the hard-to-trace cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.