Arrested For Fraud, Scamming Elderly Americans Out Of Millions

Fraud

Two men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their role in multiple global sweepstakes that were presumably scams according to authorities.

Maurice Levy and Derrick Levy, 51 and 54, respectively, created a series of sweepstake scams throughout the United States, taking advantage of elderly and easily confused victims, federal prosecutors charged.

The two men, both Jamaican nationals, used a call center in Costa Rica and masked their location through false US calling codes, according to the Department of Justice.

“Maurice Levy and Derrick Levy further admitted that they would call individuals in the United States, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, and falsely claim that the individuals had won a sweepstakes prize but were required to pay fees prior to the delivery of the prize. In truth, no such prize existed,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“Once a victim made an initial payment for the purported fees, Maurice Levy, Derrick Levy, and their co-conspirators would continue to call the victim, falsely representing that a mistake had been made and that the victim had actually won a prize of a greater amount, or an issue had occurred, and the victim needed to pay additional fees to claim the prize,” the DOJ continued. “Many victims sent tens of thousands of dollars to Maurice Levy, Derrick Levy, and their co-conspirators in response to these calls.”

Levy and Levy are accused of taking in approximately $10 million over the eight years they ran the scam.

“During the scheme, Derrick Levy and Maurice Levy fraudulently obtained more than $9,400,000 from victims, which was used to continue operating the call centers and for the co-conspirators’ personal benefit,” the DOJ concluded.

The DOJ has actually been dealing with numerous COVID-19 relief fund scams perpetrated over the course of the COVID lockdowns.

The department has actually prioritized punishing COVID-19 fraud since March when it appointed Federal Prosecutor Kevin Chamers as director for COVID-19 fraud enforcement. The group’s latest string of arrests includes 21 people who ran schemes defrauding Americans out of at least $149 million and still counting, the DOJ indicated.

The fraudster’s charges are associated with “false billings to federal programs and theft from federally-funded pandemic assistance programs.”

H/T The New York Post

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