LEWISTON — Madeleine LeBlanc, 90, did the right thing and probably avoided being scammed out of money Tuesday, police said.

“Never, never give out your bank number, your checking account number. Do not wire any money,” Lt. Mike McGonagle said. “You need to be firm, say, ‘I’m not interested,’ and hang up.”

That’s what LeBlanc did, she said.

“This woman is very smart. She did the right thing,” McGonagle said. “I know a lot of savvy people who have been taken.”

LeBlanc said she got a phone call Tuesday morning from someone who said he was Tony Washington calling from Sweepstakes Clearinghouse. He asked if she was the lady of the house; was she Madeleine?

She said yes. She told him she was 90. “He said, ‘Oh my goodness, you sound like you’re 30.’”

The caller said he had some great news for her. She had won $1.5 million and a Mercedes Benz. “He said, ‘We will be there to deliver it at 2 this afternoon. We’ll go to your house. You know Tom Sawyer from Publishers Clearing House? He will be the one delivering the check.”

The caller said there was a tax on the prize, that they would “escort” her to her bank, and that she was to pay them $750 before they turned over the car and money.

At that LeBlanc said, “‘Well, Mr., this sounds like a scam.’ He said, ‘Oh no, it’s not a scam.’”

She hung up on him.

He called back and tried to start the conversation again, LeBlanc said. “He said, ‘We are not trying to scam you.’” Again, she hung up.

“They called back four more times,” she said.

LeBlanc said she knew it was a scam when she was told she’d have to pay them.

“You don’t pay if you’ve won,” LeBlanc said. “I may be 90, but I’m not senile.”

She knows to never give out her Social Security number or bank numbers. And if they did show up and she got into their car to go to the bank, “I might end up in a ditch on the side of the road.”

After the phone calls, LeBlanc called the police and her credit union to make sure no one had tried to tamper with her account. She shared her story with the Sun Journal as a way of spreading the word for others not to be taken by scams.

Police said scams include people claiming to be the IRS who say the person owes taxes. Others say they are Central Maine Power and that the person must pay or they’ll turn off the electricity.

Another common scam is someone calling to say a grandchild is in jail, not to tell the parents and to wire money to get the grandchild out of jail. “Don’t do any of that stuff,” McGonagle said. A lot of scams originate from other states or countries.

With the Sun Journal on one phone line, McGonagle called the number from which LeBlanc was called.

It was met with a recording saying the person was not available. There was no identification, no personal message.

McGonagle said, “See, you can’t even call them.”

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