A 50-year-old man of Nigerian decent living in Canada was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face federal criminal charges after allegedly taking in a scheme to scam thousands of victims of hundreds of millions of dollars.
American investigators allege the 50-year-old man was involved in a conspiracy to run a fraudulent “sweepstakes” scheme fashioned to swindle a total of $300 million U.S from unsuspecting victims. Unfortunately, the alleged fraudsters were able to defraud their victims of a total of $900,000 U.S.
A federal grand jury indictment, returned in September 2018, charges the man with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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Each count upon conviction calls a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The indictment reveals that the defendants carried out their sweepstakes scheme between 2012 and 2016.
Prime Target
The man allegedly bought lists of elderly potential victims and their addresses from an email service provider. He and other conspirators based in the Toronto area, sent packages containing fraudulent sweepstakes information to conspirators living in the U.S.
The packages contained thousands of mailers, which the U.S.-based conspirators sent to victims notifying them that they had won a sweepstakes contest.
Each mailer included a fraudulent cheque issued in the name of the victim, usually in the amount of $8,000, and a pre-addressed envelope.
Victims were instructed to deposit the cheque into their bank account, immediately withdraw between $5,000 and $7,000 dollars in cash or money orders and send the money to a “sweepstakes representative” to facilitate the victim collecting his or her prize.
By the time the victim was notified by the bank that the deposited cheque was fraudulent, the cash or money order had been sent by the victim and received by alleged conspirators.
The man, who remains in federal custody pending his initial appearance in Austin, Texas Friday afternoon, is one of eight defendants charged in connection with this scheme.
Despite the fact that the man was living in Canada, U.S. special agents were able to trace his location — something they attribute to their strong relationships with international law enforcement agencies.
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