For Joseph and Georgia Gibson, $52,000 would be quite a windfall.

The Ironton couple recently received a letter stating the money could be theirs at no cost, that the attempt to give them money was not a scam.

Joseph Gibson said he knew better.

“There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there,” Gibson said.

The man said he called the phone number on the letter, sent from a company called Montreal Finance Group. All he had to do to claim his prize was to pay $263 to insure the funds.

“As soon as they ask for money, as soon as they do that, it’s a scam,” Gibson said. “They are trying to rip you off.”

And that’s not the first time the Gibsons have been offered some sort of prize money.

Unfortunately, for some of Ironton’s other elderly residents, they have been taken by similar scams.

Ironton Police Det. Joe Ross said he has had three or four reports recently of elderly people being scammed out of money through a Green Dot Card scheme.

“What happens is, these people have been calling people’s houses, the elderly mostly,” Ross said.

The victim of the scam would order a product being sold over the phone. The scammer would then ask the victim to purchase a Green Dot card for $250 and to give them the number associated on the card.

“Instantly they zap the money off the card and they (the victims) never hear from them again,” Ross said.

And even though the police department has only taken a few reports on the scam, Ross said there could be more people who have not reported it.

“I would just warn people, anybody who calls and wants any information or personal information or credit card information, or any kind of information over the phone, do not give it to them,” Ross said.