Nearly a dozen people and families have been conned out of thousands of dollars after being subjected to a lottery scam.
Thankfully for the victims who saw a collective £1,175,595 ($1.5million) stolen from their accounts, the man behind the despicable crime admitted to the crimes he committed.
Antony Linton Stewart confessed to being behind the scams which saw thousands fleeced from unsuspecting members of the public.
The 39-year-old Jamaican, according to North Carolina court documents, targeted elderly residents who were living in the US between 2010 and 2016.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Stewart lured his victims during conversations over the phone.
In court documents filed in Charlotte, North Carolina, the victims Stewart targeted were primarily older residents – who he claimed had won prizes worth millions.
Among the other prizes he alleged they had secured were cars.
However, Stewart then revealed the victims would have to pay a series of fees and taxes in order to secure their prizes.
Trusting Stewart, the victims mailed thousands of dollars in cash to Stewart’s “intermediaries”, the court documents revealed.
In other cases, the victims wired money over.
As the excited victims awaited news of their prizes, Stewart would continue contacting them asking for more money to help move the process along.
It is unknown exactly how much Stewart stole from his victims. But the documents allege the figure is somewhere between £431,051 ($550,000) and £1,175,595 ($1,500,000).
The documents add that “there was no lottery and no winnings were paid; rather, Stewart and his co-conspirators fraudulently kept the victims’ money for their own benefit”.
After being charged Stewart pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina confirmed.
He admitted the charges after being extradited from Jamaica.
US Attorney Dena J. King, for the Western District of North Carolina, said in a statement: “Each year, millions of older Americans suffer heavy financial losses in the hands of scammers operating in the United States and abroad.
“Today’s guilty plea underscores our efforts to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of elder fraud schemes no matter where they originate.”
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The documents add that “there was no lottery and no winnings were paid; rather, Stewart and his co-conspirators fraudulently kept the victims’ money for their own benefit”.
