Woman falls for contest scam

COEUR d'ALENE - When a Coeur d'Alene woman got a phone call Friday informing her she had won $500,000, she excitedly gave the caller all of her personal information.

However, the woman didn't hit the jackpot. She was hit by a fraud scheme.

According to a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office report, the woman provided the caller with her maiden name, Social Security number, address, phone number and date of birth.

After providing the caller with the information, the woman asked who it was that was calling her. When she was done asking the question, the caller hung up the phone.

The woman told deputies that she was initially so "excited by the prospect of winning a large sum of money" that she didn't think twice about giving the caller her information.

"I wasn't in my right mind," the woman said to the officers.

When asked by the responding officers if she had any information about the caller, the woman said that she only has a land line phone without caller ID and couldn't remember the name the caller gave her.

The report added that the woman checked her bank accounts and "nothing seems suspicious."