A man was sentenced to prison on Monday for running a six-year lottery scam from Jamaica targeting U.S. seniors, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
40-year-old Antony Linton Stewart from St. James Parish, Jamaica, was given 84 months in prison for running his lottery scheme. He was also ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution to his victims.
From 2010 through at least August 2016, Stewart ran a lottery scheme from Jamaica in which he and his co-conspirators targeted victims in the United States.
When they answered the phone, Stewart told his targets that they had won money and other prizes in a sweepstakes or lottery. He then told his victims that they needed to send money to pay fees and taxes on their winning, and repeatedly contacted them for as long as they could be persuaded to send money.
However, no lottery existed, nor did any of his victims ever receive any prizes.
Victims were instructed to send the money to U.S. and Jamaica-based intermediaries, who then passed it on to Stewart.
Stewart told his victims to send the money via wire transfers or through the U.S. Postal Service, which caught on to the scam and launched an investigation.
After sufficient evidence was collected, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Jamaican law enforcement to have Stewart arrested and extradited to the United States.
On Aug. 3, 2023, Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a North Carolina court. He will now be spending the next 7 years in prison.
“Stealing money from elderly individuals is a despicable crime,” said U.S. Attorney Dena J. King. “Today’s sentence sends a clear message that fraudsters who target and exploit older adults for financial gain will be brought to justice.”
According to King, each year “millions of older Americans suffer heavy financial losses in the hands of scammers operating in the United States and abroad.”
“We will continue to join forces with our law enforcement counterparts to do all we can to stop these criminals from stealing from our seniors,” she added.
The DOJ also referred the public to its National Elder Fraud Hotline, a service staffed by dedicated professionals trained to identify potential scams and assist victims.
“Reporting is the first step,” the DOJ said. “Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud, and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses.”
The hotline can be reached at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311), seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. eastern time.