A global telemarketing sweepstakes fraud scheme involving two people has resulted in the theft of more than $9 million from numerous elderly and defenseless victims in the US.
Maurice Levy, 51, and Derrick Levy, 54, both of Jamaica, reportedly admitted in court documents that they worked in call centers in Costa Rica between July 2008 and September 2016 that defrauded Americans. Derrick Levy and Maurice Levy admitted that they used Voice-over-IP technology to disguise their physical location. This allowed them to provide victims with phone numbers that appeared to have U.S. area codes but were actually answered at call centers in Costa Rica.
Derrick Levy and Maurice Levy further acknowledged that they called people in the United States, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, and made up stories about how they had won a sweepstakes prize but had to pay fees before receiving it. In reality, there was no such prize.
Maurice Levy, Derrick Levy, and their accomplices would call the victim repeatedly after the victim had paid the fictitious fees, claiming that a mistake had been made and that the victim had actually won a prize worth more, or that a problem had arisen and the victim needed to pay more money to claim the prize.
In response to these calls, numerous victims sent tens of thousands of dollars to Maurice Levy, Derrick Levy, and their accomplices. Derrick Levy and Maurice Levy defrauded victims out of more than $9,400,000, which was then used to keep the call centers running and for the co-conspirators’ personal gain.
Yesterday, Maurice Levy admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud; he will now be sentenced. Derrick Levy, who admitted guilt to conspiring to commit wire fraud on January 25, will be sentenced on September 28. Each of them could spend as much as 20 years behind bars. After taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations, a federal district court judge will decide on any sentence.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Dena J. King of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina; Inspector in Charge Tommy Coke of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Atlanta Division; Special Agent in Charge Donald “Trey” Eakins of IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Charlotte Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.
With assistance from the Federal Trade Commission, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, IRS-CI, and the FBI, among others, looked into this case. Costa Rican authorities as well as the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department contributed.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jason M. Covert of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division.