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Jamaican pleads guilty to defrauding hundreds of senior citizens in lottery scam
Thursday, June 13, 2013 | 9:42 AM
WISCONSIN (CMC) -- A Jamaican has pleaded guilty for his role in a telemarketing lottery scheme that defrauded hundreds of US senior citizens.
The United States Department of Justice said that O’Brain J Lynch, 28, the first Jamaican to be charged in the US for this type of fraud, pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, James L. Santelle, said Lynch faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of US$250,000.
Santelle said the guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), and the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
According to court documents, in March 2012, the SSA learned that a Social Security recipient, from Glendale, Wisconsin was receiving Social Security benefits in the name of other recipients and cashing in these benefits.
SSA-OIG special agents discovered the recipient was sending this money to Jamaica because he believed he had won “The Jamaican Lottery”.
According to the court documents, the American man said he was contacted by an official from Global International, who informed him that he won US$2.5 million and two Mercedes Benz vehicles in a sweepstake.
He was then advised that in order to collect the money and the cars, he had to pay taxes, customs duty and other fees. The unidentified senior citizen initially sent his own money to Jamaica.
“Once he had depleted his own assets, he was directed by telephone to accept checks, Direct Express cards, and other cash value cards in the names of other people (who were also victims), cash them out and then send the money to Jamaica,” the Justice Department said.
“As a result, numerous victims did not receive their Social Security benefits, and instead they were mailed to Jamaica,” it added.
The Justice Department said investigators from SSA discovered that hundreds of victims throughout the United States were losing their social security benefits and their life savings, “either because they believed that they had won ‘The Jamaican Lottery’ or because, as part of another telemarketing scheme, they revealed enough information about themselves that allowed the identity thieves to fraudulently divert their money”.
It said SSA-OIG, USPIS and HSI joined forces and identified Lynch as “one of the principal individuals involved in this scheme in Jamaica”.
Lynch was arrested in February.
According to the Justice Department, numerous records showed that Lynch and his co-conspirators were involved in a “massive telemarketing scheme involving hundreds of victims.
“They identified vulnerable victims and changed the recipients’ addresses to a third party. They then had the third party send the money to Jamaica or to others in the United States who then wired the money to Jamaica.
“At the direction of Lynch (and others working with him), numerous victims received SSA Direct Express, netSpend, Green Dot and other types of cash value cards in the names of other victims,” the Justice Department said.
It said in addition, items were ordered in the United States by Lynch and others, and were paid for “using money fraudulently obtained through the scheme”.
These items, “including jewellery, cell phones, a computer tablet, various electronics and other items, were received by victims or other co-actors in the United States, and then sent to Jamaica where they could not be traced or recouped”.
The Justice Department said many of these items have now been linked directly to Lynch.
As part of his plea agreement, the department said Lynch has agreed to pay at least US$100,000 in restitution. The restitution amount will be determined by the court at the time of sentencing.
“Unscrupulous scam artists prey on the vulnerabilities of others and are solely motivated by greed,” said HSI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Gary Hartwig.
“We will continue to work with our partners in Jamaica and other law enforcement agencies to put these criminal enterprises out of business,” he added.
SSA-OIG Special Agent in Charge William Cotter said, “the arrest and conviction of O’Brain Lynch is a significant breakthrough in our investigation into this Jamaican Lottery Scheme, which has redirected millions of dollars in senior citizens’ retirement benefits to thieves’ accounts opened for the purpose of stealing this money”.
Cotte said Lynch was “a major organizer of this scam, and he personally received or was responsible for defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from very vulnerable senior citizens”.
The US Justice Department described the Jamaican lottery scheme as “a form of mass-marketing fraud committed via the Internet, telemarketing or mass mailings”.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2W7IUClwd
Thursday, June 13, 2013 | 9:42 AM
WISCONSIN (CMC) -- A Jamaican has pleaded guilty for his role in a telemarketing lottery scheme that defrauded hundreds of US senior citizens.
The United States Department of Justice said that O’Brain J Lynch, 28, the first Jamaican to be charged in the US for this type of fraud, pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, James L. Santelle, said Lynch faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of US$250,000.
Santelle said the guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), and the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
According to court documents, in March 2012, the SSA learned that a Social Security recipient, from Glendale, Wisconsin was receiving Social Security benefits in the name of other recipients and cashing in these benefits.
SSA-OIG special agents discovered the recipient was sending this money to Jamaica because he believed he had won “The Jamaican Lottery”.
According to the court documents, the American man said he was contacted by an official from Global International, who informed him that he won US$2.5 million and two Mercedes Benz vehicles in a sweepstake.
He was then advised that in order to collect the money and the cars, he had to pay taxes, customs duty and other fees. The unidentified senior citizen initially sent his own money to Jamaica.
“Once he had depleted his own assets, he was directed by telephone to accept checks, Direct Express cards, and other cash value cards in the names of other people (who were also victims), cash them out and then send the money to Jamaica,” the Justice Department said.
“As a result, numerous victims did not receive their Social Security benefits, and instead they were mailed to Jamaica,” it added.
The Justice Department said investigators from SSA discovered that hundreds of victims throughout the United States were losing their social security benefits and their life savings, “either because they believed that they had won ‘The Jamaican Lottery’ or because, as part of another telemarketing scheme, they revealed enough information about themselves that allowed the identity thieves to fraudulently divert their money”.
It said SSA-OIG, USPIS and HSI joined forces and identified Lynch as “one of the principal individuals involved in this scheme in Jamaica”.
Lynch was arrested in February.
According to the Justice Department, numerous records showed that Lynch and his co-conspirators were involved in a “massive telemarketing scheme involving hundreds of victims.
“They identified vulnerable victims and changed the recipients’ addresses to a third party. They then had the third party send the money to Jamaica or to others in the United States who then wired the money to Jamaica.
“At the direction of Lynch (and others working with him), numerous victims received SSA Direct Express, netSpend, Green Dot and other types of cash value cards in the names of other victims,” the Justice Department said.
It said in addition, items were ordered in the United States by Lynch and others, and were paid for “using money fraudulently obtained through the scheme”.
These items, “including jewellery, cell phones, a computer tablet, various electronics and other items, were received by victims or other co-actors in the United States, and then sent to Jamaica where they could not be traced or recouped”.
The Justice Department said many of these items have now been linked directly to Lynch.
As part of his plea agreement, the department said Lynch has agreed to pay at least US$100,000 in restitution. The restitution amount will be determined by the court at the time of sentencing.
“Unscrupulous scam artists prey on the vulnerabilities of others and are solely motivated by greed,” said HSI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Gary Hartwig.
“We will continue to work with our partners in Jamaica and other law enforcement agencies to put these criminal enterprises out of business,” he added.
SSA-OIG Special Agent in Charge William Cotter said, “the arrest and conviction of O’Brain Lynch is a significant breakthrough in our investigation into this Jamaican Lottery Scheme, which has redirected millions of dollars in senior citizens’ retirement benefits to thieves’ accounts opened for the purpose of stealing this money”.
Cotte said Lynch was “a major organizer of this scam, and he personally received or was responsible for defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from very vulnerable senior citizens”.
The US Justice Department described the Jamaican lottery scheme as “a form of mass-marketing fraud committed via the Internet, telemarketing or mass mailings”.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2W7IUClwd
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