A Pomona woman said she was swindled out of thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry in a scam involving two women who approached her seeking help claiming a large cash prize.
The 62-year-old woman’s daughter feels guilty for not following her instincts and stopping her mother from falling prey to the scam before it was too late.
“Just go with your gut feeling,” said Paula Perez, the victim’s daughter. “Because I had that gut feeling that something’s wrong and, now that I look at it, I should have stopped it.”
Perez said it happened Thursday at around 10:30 a.m. when her mother was walking back from the dentist’s office near the intersection of San Bernardino Avenue and Indian Hill Boulevard in Pomona.
She said her mother was approached by two women; one asking for help finding an immigration office, the other saying she needed to find someone of legal status to help claim a large sum of money she had apparently won, and if she did she could share in the winnings.
But when the victim got into a silver Toyota Prius driven by one of the women, they told her there was a catch.
“They needed for someone to have $60,000 because they didn’t want to feel threatened,” said Perez. “They said they’d been robbed before when they tried to claim money.”
The victim said one of the women told her she could front some of the cash. She then took Perez’s mother to her home so she could collect the rest of the money.
Perez said when her mother walked inside, she immediately detected that something was wrong.
“I noticed her eyes were red, her face was red because she had been crying,” said Perez. “But she was happy, so that’s what was weird.”
Perez said she didn’t know that her mother had then entered her bedroom to take what she described as her entire life savings, including $29,000 in cash and jewelry, before leaving the home.
She then went back to the car but returned moments later, saying she needed to find a utility bill or something else verifying her identity. She left the home again.
No more than five or six minutes later, Perez said her mother called her in a panic.
“She calls me hysterically crying, screaming. She was out of breath. She said they stole everything; they left with everything.”
Perez said they’ve reported the theft to Pomona police, who confirmed to Eyewitness News that they’re investigating the alleged crime.
Perez and her mother are hoping people who see their story will be more cautious.
“Don’t trust people who just walk up, no matter how nice they may seem or friendly they may seem,” said Perez. “The best thing to do is just walk away.”
