Cathy Trahan is a caretaker in Foley.

“It makes me feel awful,” says Trahan.

And the man she’s employed by recently got a scam phone call.

“And I’m like, what is this world coming to?”

The person on the phone told him they were with Wind Creek Casino in Atmore and that he had just won $85,000. He handed the phone to Trahan.

“I said is this for real? And that’s when they hung up,” says Trahan.

They wanted the man to put the taxes for his winnings, a few thousand dollars, on a green dot card. Trahan knew it couldn’t be for real.

“He’s been to that casino one time in his life, and that’s been like two or three years ago.”

And, one look at the caller ID confirmed it.

“I said, Jamaica? There’s no Wind Creek in Jamaica, it’s in Atmore!”

She called the real casino and was told she was not the first to make the complaint. A statement we received from Wind Creek Hospitality reads in part:

“The caller is requesting personal and confidential information about the winner. This is a scam. We do not contact winners in this manner and we do not ask for confidential information over the phone.”

Trahan meanwhile is furious that these scammers would target folks on a limited income.

“And for somebody to take the little bit of extra money that they have left? You know, it’s just not right.”

The amazing part of all this is that scammers are getting very good at researching the areas that they target, able to give you names of real people or real agencies to make you think they’re the real deal. If you’re skeptical, just hang up and call the real agency to verify.