Elderly American Woman Falls In Love With Jamaican Scammer And Decides To Help Him Scam

Police arrested an Evansville woman who they say was part of an international scam that tricked victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Police say Ella Mae Bradley, 51, was involved in the scam where victims were told they had won the Jamaican lottery and needed to send money to a United States address in order to receive their winnings.

Over the last three years, people from across the country have sent cashier’s checks, money grams and cash to Bradley’s Evansville home. Police say Bradley would keep a portion of the money and send the rest to Jamaica. Bradley told police she had sent around $1 million to Jamaica during those three years.

The Amarillo Texas Police Department informed Evansville police of the scam after an elderly victim had withdrawn approximately $100,000 from her bank account and sent it to Bradley in several installments.

Evansville police say they were able to intercept a $25,000 check and returned it to the elderly victim.

Bradley told investigators that she had been a victim of the same scammers for two years and began helping them after she got fascinated with one of them  and they started to speak more frequently. She expressed to him that if they were to move forward she wants back her money and he told her to help him scam other victims and she can take their money to replace her losses.

Police say arrests in these types of scams are not very common and most victims never recover any of their losses.