ATHOL, Idaho — The calls started coming in to Dawn Olejniczak early Tuesday morning.
"Kept calling me back over and over and over again," the Athol, Idaho resident explains.
The man, who she says called himself John White, told her he was with Mega Millions in Idaho and that he was waiting to deliver her prize.
With the Mega Millions jackpot at $1.1 billion ahead of Tuesday night's drawing the timing may have come as no surprise. Except the drawing hadn't happened yet and Olejniczak hadn't played Mega Millions since December 20.
"He'd deliver $2 million in a cashier's check and $500,000 in a briefcase - cash," she says of the man's call.
He told Dawn he needed her driver's license and gave her three numbers she'd need to claim the money. It all sounded pretty odd, but the scam became clear with his last demand.
"As soon as he hit the $199 gift card," Olejniczak laughs. "Mega Millions isn't gonna call me."
"No. No, we do not call you if you win," says Kristi Weeks, Director of Legal Services for Washington's Lottery. "You have to tell us you win. You have to bring us a ticket and we will give you your money."
Weeks often deals with victims of lotto scams.
"I talk to these people too often," she says. "I recently spoke with one woman who lost $2,000. To her that was a lot of money. I just wish she'd called us before she gave up the money."
What Olejniczak experienced is common, Weeks confirms, though she says you can protect yourself.
"If someone does call you and they want your personal information, don't give it to them. If they want you to send money, it's absolutely illegitimate," Weeks says.
Another tip-off it's a scam -- the person is persistent and tries to rush you into acting.
Dawn's scammer called more than 20 times from two different phone numbers.
"Fifteen times on that number," she says, counting the incoming calls from one out-of-state line.
She shared her story, after finally blocking those numbers, so other people keep their hard-earned cash from becoming a lucky payday for a scammer.
"Nobody's gonna ask you to go down and get a gift card," she says of legitimate lotteries. "Especially if they're handing you $2.5 million dollars."
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