CLAREMORE, Okla. — A Claremore woman is sharing her story after spotting an old scam with a seemingly new twist.
“This is an opening, it’s an interesting one, but it’s an opening to get a hold of what I do have,” says Karen Rowden.
Rowden took a break from the jewelry she carefully crafts by hand to read a letter she just received, supposedly from an administrative manager of an overseas financial institution.
“She was contacting me because of a financial opportunity, and that made me want to look at the rest of it,” Rowden says.
The letter said she was about to become a millionaire, many times over, but there was no return address and had a Portuguese stamp.
“It was about an amount that was in a safe deposit box in a bank, and the bank evidently is not in the United States.”
As she read further, Rowden found out a gentleman, with her last name, had passed away, and left $26 million in that safe deposit box, and the bank was trying to find next of kin, to inherit the money.
“That sent a red flag up,” she says. “And I was not supposed to speak about this to anybody for any reason.”
Rowden was to receive 40% of the money, the institution would keep 50%, and the other 10% would go to charity.
“It was so far out, I thought someone might actually get excited, and believe it.”
Karen says the letter sparked concern, for others, especially other seniors.
“If I got one, then a bunch of other people get them.”
Most of them, Rowden says, most likely tore it up and…
