Yuba County Woman Disappears After Losing $500,000 in Contest Scams

[The Straight Story]

Yuba County Woman Disappears After Losing $500,000 in Contest Scams
Written for the web by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer


Federal and local authorities in Sutter County are searching for a missing Yuba City woman who disappeared last week after losing more than $500,000 in fradulent international lottery schemes.



Norma Anderson, 75, disappeared April 4. Her son-in-law found the retired nurse's car later that night parked near the Fifth Street Bridge over the Feather River in Yuba City. Anderson's jacket was found neatly folded on the riverbank and a witness reported seeing someone struggling in the waters near that location on the day Anderson disappeared. Sutter County Sheriff's boats canvassed the area, but found no trace of Anderson.

Anderson's husband, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Anderson, said his wife of 55 years began to change 18 months ago, becoming fanatically obsessed with collecting prizes for contests she received in the mail.

"She made out the clearing house form and sent it in and then, we started getting literature from all over the place," Jim Anderson said.

http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=17047

Scammers suck.

[MadMaddie]

1. The prison sentences for these criminals should be raised....

I hope the people that run these scams rot in hell...

[Atman]

2. Maybe she ran off with her rich Nigerian uncle.

Poor woman. Some people shouldn't be allowed near e-mail without taking a safety course.

[Horse with no Name]

3. That does suck

I've noticed a hundred-fold increase of the Nigerian email scam in my inbox over the last month or so.
I get anywhere from 10-25 scam letters every single day.
You know that somewhere out there someone is falling for it, otherwise they would quit doing it.
I hope they find Mrs. Anderson. Very sad.

[juajen]

4. He should have taken her name off their accounts!

My word, that's terrible. Maybe he didn't know, but I know when five cents is taken out of our accounts; why didn't he stop it? He's lucky he's got another house to go to. I'm speechless. I get those emails all the time, also. I never even open them.

[Missy M]

5. Something doesn't seem right with this story. Why didn't the....

husband or daughter stop it at the bank level. It would have been easy. Why wasn't the bank suspicious? You can't send $22,000.00 to the Middle East without some trouble (unless it was a personal check) but then it would be hard to cash the personal check. None of it makes sense.