Scam artists calling South Tahoe residents

A  South Lake Tahoe resident was scammed out of a large sum of money, according to South Lake Tahoe police officers.

The scammer told the victim he was stuck in customs and needed help getting out. The suspect convinced the senior citizen to send him a large amount of money. The scammers also called back and tried to convince the victim to give them additional money with an addition scam, saying he won the lottery, according to police.

The scammers are calling from a phone number with an 876 area code, which is Jamaica. Jamaica has been the source for a variety of international scams.

Officers warn people to never send or transfer money to people you don’t know even if the caller reports to be from a legitimate business; never call back any number provided by the caller; do not to give out any personal information over the phone to anyone calling you unsolicited.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report