Jamaican scam artists have been conning people out of their hard earned savings. A 90-year-old man is among several people who have lost thousands of dollars in cash in Virginia, USA due to a lottery scam.

The senior citizen recently lost $24,000 to scammers in Jamaica. "The gentleman was contacted via telephone [and] told that he won the lottery sweepstakes. ...he was advised that he needed to send moneygrams in order to claim his prize. That went on numerous moneygrams to the total of about $24,000," said Augusta County investigator Deputy Brian Jenkins. 

In another case, 80-year-old Florida resident Anna Ingle, lost $7,000 to another Jamaican conman after she received a call from Jamaica informing her that she won $2.5 million and a Mercedes. But first she'd have to send them some money.

She wired money as often as three times a day for three months. So many people called. She also ran up a $700 phone bill. Her family didn't find out until she was flat broke.

Anna Ingle says, "I have no money at all, just a little social security. I even took that and spent that, too."  She further added, "I thought with all that money I could help a lot of people out."

"It breaks my heart because I thought I was doing something for my children."