Bluffton woman narrowly avoids scam that robbed a Michigan man of $50,000

A Bluffton woman was almost the victim of a scam that told her she had won $8.5 million and a new car.

The woman spoke with a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy on Friday after a man in Michigan called the department to report a similar scam involving a check sent from the woman’s address, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

The Michigan victim called to say the scam began in February of 2013 and that a man who identified himself as Arthur Williams called and said he had won $8.5 million and a new car.

In order to receive the prize money, the victim would have to send Williams different amounts of cash via Western Union to an unknown address in Jamaica, the report said.

Over four years, the man sent Williams up to $50,000 and had not received any prize money or a car.

“(The victim) stated he had sent the money to Jamaica and was getting suspicious that he had not received his prize yet,” the report said.

On Feb. 6, the Michigan victim was sent a check for $1,300 from an address on Pine Forest Drive in Bluffton. By the time the man attempted to cash it, the check had been canceled, the report said.

A deputy from the Sheriff’s Office went to the Pine Forest Drive address and spoke with a woman who lived there. The woman said she had been instructed to send the check to the Michigan address by a man named Michael Miller who called and said she, too, had won $8.5 million and and a new car, the report said.

The woman’s daughter informed her the call was a scam after she had sent the check to Michigan, so the woman canceled it, the report said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2017 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Bluffton woman narrowly avoids scam that robbed a Michigan man of $50,000."