Windsor police allege a man pretending to be hearing impaired has stolen more than $100,000 from people who are actually hearing impaired or deaf.
Police say that through Facebook the suspect "entrenched himself" as part of Windsor's hearing impaired community, befriending its members.
Once friends, police say the suspect entices people to buy a lottery ticket from him. Once the ticket has been bought he later makes contact with the purchasing member advising them that they have won.
"It appears that an outsider passing himself off as one of their own has infiltrated this small community with the purpose of defrauding its members," Windsor police spokesperson Sgt. Matt D'asti wrote in a media release.
The prize money is substantial, in the range of $300,000, according to police. The suspect then asks that the ticket's buyer submit a processing fee of $2,500. Once paid, he asks that the victim pay another $15,000 in "taxes."
If the victim keeps paying the alleged fraudster keeps elaborating on the scam, telling the victim the amount they won has increased from $300,000 to $500,000 then $750,000.
D'asti said the suspect extorts more processing fees and taxation amounts along the way.
"The victim is bled of as much money as the fraudster can get and in the case that we are investigating it has surpassed $100,000," D'asti said.
The Canadian Hearing Society has been advised of the situation
