Local man warns of lottery phone scam

COEUR d'ALENE - Laurie Dillman could be the luckiest man on Earth.

Or not.

"I've won the lottery three times in the last seven days," he said, laughing, on Monday.

By his count, based on phone calls he received Monday, Saturday and last Monday, he has $2.5 million coming his way.

But despite his good fortune, he knows he won't see a penny of it.

"No, I don't think they'll be calling me anymore," he said. "At least, I hope not."

Dillman received three calls, each from a man with a foreign accent on the other end telling him that because he paid his bills regularly, he was entered in a lottery and guess what, he won. More than $2 million.

Dillman had his doubts.

"I told him, 'I haven't put anything into any lottery.' He said, 'That's OK.'"

All Dillman had to do was provide identification and go to a store and buy four $500 prepaid credit cards. When they delivered the package to his home with his winnings, they would make the exchange. ID and credit cards for $2.5 million. Such a deal.

"They said they were coming this afternoon, and the guy would have a box," Dillman said.

He knew each call, which lasted as long as Dillman played along and was from the same person, was a scheme to empty his pockets.

Once, he told the caller, "I don't need the money. Why don't you give it to a charity?"

Click.

"He hung on me every time when I didn't play his game," he said.

Dillman reported the scam to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

"I'm surely not the only one in Kootenai County to be called by this guy," he said.