By Town Crier Staff

A man posing as an investment advisor from Canada bilked $250,000 from a 79-year-old Los Altos woman last week by convincing her to invest in an out-of-state real estate deal that would allegedly generate millions of dollars. Police said the property was worthless and the alleged investment advisor was part of a telephone scam targeting senior citizens.

Sgt. John Hughmanick said police are working with Federal agents to locate the scam artist but chances are unlikely that the woman will recover her money.

“We don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” he said. “If it sounds too good to be true - it’s too good to be true.”

Hughmanick said the phone scam typically involves an out-of-country caller trying to advise seniors of real estate deals or trying to collect taxes for a winning lottery ticket that was purchased in the senior’s name. The scam artist will advise seniors to send lottery taxes in order to receive their winnings.