Special Reports

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (WCCO) ― The victims of the lottery-sweepstakes scam haven't gotten a lot of sympathy until now. Minnesota special agents are part of the worldwide effort to crack down on these criminals. According to the Federal Trade Commission, at least 12 percent of all Americans will be a victim of this scam.

WCCO spoke with one of the men who worked inside the scam world. Who knows... he might even have called you.

"I told them, yes, indeed they had won the money," said a man who was once inside one of the biggest scam operations in the world. Now he is an informant working with U.S. and Jamaican officials.

WCCO's Don Shelby talked with him in Jamaica. That's where Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Minnesota agents, are trying to shut down a lottery-sweepstakes operation.

Armed officers raided house after house making arrests, and confiscating cars, laptop computers and phones. The jackpot is what scammers call a "sucker list" -- names and phone numbers of victims.

"And so what did you tell them that they had won?" asked Shelby.

"Money," said the informant.

"How much?" asked Shelby.

"Millions and millions of dollars," said the informant.

However, people are told they can only get the millions and millions after they've sent money to pay for taxes and fees.

Last year, Minnesotans lost more than $30 million to this scam and it gets worse. Once a victim pays, that's when this guy steps in.

"Yes, I did disguise my voice," said the informant.

He posed as a government official offering to help people get their money back and then tried to get more out of them.

"Some of them I told that I was sent from America, I was sent from America, to investigate the thing," he said. "I'm the only person legit in Jamaica who is investigating the lottery scam."

These scammers are sophisticated. They earn trust. Some of the scammers use official looking U.S. government letterhead from the Federal Trade Commission or the Internal Revenue Service. They're able to disguise their phone calls to make it look like they're calling from Washington, D.C.

And most people are willing to send more money to help catch the "bad guys."

"Even at times when I'm there telling them that, 'No, do not send money to them, it's a scam and I'm investigating and I know it's a scam,'" explained the informant. "They don't believe me. They believe the people who are taking out money from them."

"I don't have any money to send them. My life has been destroyed," said a Minnesota woman. She is one of 60,000 Minnesotans who have been victims of these callers.

She doesn't want us to use her name or tell you where she lives because the callers have threatened to kill her if she talks to anyone. She has sent thousands of dollars and is about to lose everything.

"I very possibly, in fact in the next few days, could lose my home," said the woman.

"As you can see here in Jamaica, the Jamaican government is committed to combating these crimes,'' said Scott Hatfield, Operations Specialist with the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The victims of this crime are hit hard. Some have lost even more than their life's savings.

"In New Jersey, a couple of years ago an elderly female was scammed out at the tune of $248,000 by a telemarketer in Jamaica. And due to being overcome with despair, and desperation, she took her own life," said Hatfield.

"This is a global problem, it requires a global solution and states need to be involved in it," said John Willems, Director of Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

He's in Jamaica leading the fight because Minnesotans are a prominent target.

"The goal is for us to see the perpetrators arrested and if that happens in Jamaica and we can help that happen because of the evidence we can acquire for them in Minnesota, we've been successful," said Willems.

"Did you ever feel bad about what you were doing?" Shelby asked the informant.

"Yes at times," the informant replied. "Looking back it's something that no one who have a heart is going to feel good about."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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