Residents targeted in sweepstakes phone scam

Several Wauwatosa residents have been receiving calls claiming they have won millions of dollars in a sweepstakes. Those calls are actually scams based out of Jamaica.

According to Wauwatosa police:

On May 11, a resident recevied two calls within an hour. The first said the homeowners had won $15 million from a California-based "prize company." The second said a Las Vegas company was awarding them $16 million and a Mercedes Benz.

The next morning, another resident called to say her husband, who was in the hospital, received a call saying he had won $1 million. After talking to her husband, she found out he had filled out an online sweepstakes form.

In both cases, the callers were very anxious to get the residents to call a phone number to register for their prize. People who call that number - which is out of Jamaica - incur immediate charges on their phone bill.