Lakewood police investigate alleged Internet scam suspect

LAKEWOOD – Police suspect a local woman took part in an international Internet scam that preys on sports fans planning to attend the 2010 Olympics in Canada and are working the case with Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

But prosecuting the case could prove problematic.

Police began investigating Melissa Dawson, 52, after receiving a tip that the payoff in a suspected rental scam involving a victim in Surrey, British Columbia, had been wired to a MoneyGram office at a Wal-Mart stored in Lakewood and Denver.

Dawson has not been arrested or charged in the case, according to Lakewood police.

“She was interviewed two or three times but she has not been taken into custody or booked through,” said Steve Davis, spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department.

Lakewood investigators contacted Dawson at her home and found what police believe are counterfeit checks, falsified notifications to lottery “winners”, and wire-transfer receipts, according to information released by authorities in Canada.

Investigators north of the border say a Surrey woman who owns a home in Whalley, B.C., which is near the Vancouver-based 2010 Olympic venues, was contacted by a “doctor” from London wanting to rent the five-bedroom house she was advertising on Craig’s List. The caller, who identified himself as Victor Abramovich, at first said he wanted to rent the home during the Olympics, but later said he had decided to rent the home for a year.

The man calling himself Abramovich is believed by RCMP investigators to be Raymond Williams, who Dawson said is a lawyer from London, investigators said.

After arranging a year’s lease with the caller for $30,000, the unidentified victim in Canada received a check for $39,000, according to the LPD’s Davis.

When she called the would-be-renter about the overpayment, the man said it was to cover the removal and storage of her furniture to accommodate his furnishings, but told her he had decided otherwise and asked the victim to wire him a $9,000 refund and she did, Davis said.

“He gives her an address to wire the money to, which is here in Lakewood at one of the Wal-Marts,” Davis said. “A Lakewood woman picks that money up. She’s the one we are going to try to file a case on.”

The “renter’s” $39,000 check bounced but not until after the victim had wired the $9,000 to Lakewood, according to investigators.

Although Dawson has not been arrested or charged, Davis said Lakewood police investigators have prepared a “felony filing” to present to the District Attorney’s Office. She could be charged with identity theft, fraud and forgery, according to Davis.

But the international dimensions of the case could complicate prosecution.

“I just talked to the detective and he said ‘I don’t know if the DA’s is going to take it or not, because he said it’s pretty complicated being across the border,’” Davis said. “The RCMP – the Royal Mounted Police – have a case up there,” but investigators there have not told local authorities whether they plan to file charges.

“I don’t know how complicated that (prosecution in Canada) is going to be, but the guys at RCMP said they are seeing quite a few scams going hand-in-hand with the Olympics,” Davis said.

Information from the Canadian authorities indicate the alleged rental scam under investigation in Lakewood also includes victims in Washington State, Virginia, Florida and Tennessee.

A spokeswoman for District Attorney Scott Storey said the DA’s Office could not comment on the case because prosecutors have not reviewed the filing compiled by Lakewood police.

Dawson could not be reached for comment.