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Twelve individuals and three stores indicted in Massachusetts lottery schemeNews Story
Another fraud ring is caught By Kate Northrop On Tuesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced that twelve individuals and three stores in the state were indicted in connection with an ongoing scheme to launder lottery winnings and thus avoid paying taxes. The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission (MSLC), in conjunction with State Police, discovered that twelve individuals conspired to evade taxes in a calculated scheme to defraud the state of taxes on lottery winnings
Oct 28, 2021, 12:42 pm - Lottery News

Massachusetts father and sons accused of defrauding Lottery of $21 millionNews Story
Statistically improbable number of wins raises red flags By Kate Northrop A Massachusetts family is accused of defrauding the Massachusetts Lottery of nearly $21 million in a tax evasion scheme that took place over the past decade. It wouldn't be farfetched to say that cashing in more than 13,000 winning lottery tickets worth almost $21 million over eight years would be statistically impossible, if not improbable. This many wins could not simply be attributed to sheer luck. A stati
Aug 25, 2021, 11:00 am - Lottery News

Lottery scammer stole nearly $1 million from one elderly womanNews Story
Crook is sentenced to nine years in federal prison By Kate Northrop On Wednesday, a scammer who stole almost $1 million from one single victim in a lottery scheme was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison. Leonard Luton, a Jamaican national living in Brooklyn, New York, scammed an elderly woman from Estes Park, Colorado of more than $970,000, according to prosecutors. Court documents show that Luton and another Jamaican national worked together in a scam to convince the woman tha
Aug 10, 2021, 5:37 pm - Lottery News

Lottery scammers steal $1.2 million from one victimNews Story
Crook receives six years in prison for crimes of conspiracy and fraud By Kate Northrop After stealing over $1 million from one single victim, the leader of a ring of Jamaican scam artists was sentenced Friday to almost six years in prison. Like any typical scammer, Stieve Fernandez, 35, spent his time deceiving vulnerable individuals and robbing elderly targets of their life savings as part of a high-functioning underground network of lottery fraudsters. Fernandez was said to h
Jul 12, 2021, 12:45 pm - Lottery News

Loto-Québec IT technician accused of stealing thousands from customer accountsNews Story
By Kate Northrop After a year-long investigation, a former employee at Loto-Qu bec was accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from customer accounts that were supposedly inactive. Martin Raymond, 37, a former systems analyst who worked at an online gambling call center at Loto-Qu bec, was accused Wednesday of stealing funds from customer accounts he deemed inactive. He stole over $20,000 (US$16,000) from about 30 customer gaming accounts in over a few months between the winter and s
Jul 10, 2021, 2:50 pm - Lottery News

Lottery scams and fake sweepstakes cost Americans $227 million in 2020News Story
Report finds that victims lost 33% more money in scams compared to 2019 By Kate Northrop A report on sweepstakes, lottery and prize scams revealed that Americans lost a whopping $227 million to con artists last year. Better Business Bureau investigator Steve Baker put out some eye-opening statistics that show a decrease in complaints but a troubling 33% increase in the amount of money lost by Americans to scammers. Kathy Chapman told CBS News the story about how her unsuspecting 84-y
Jun 14, 2021, 10:37 am - Lottery News

Pennsylvania man arrested after using scissors and glue to make winning lottery ticketsNews Story
The cut-and-paste con was caught By Kate Northrop Police arrested and jailed a Pennsylvania man on Tuesday after he was caught altering scratch-off lottery tickets to look like winners using scissors and a glue stick. Craig Marshall Stout, 45, of Jeannette tried cashing in his DIY lottery tickets at a 7-Eleven convenience store on Fosterville Road in Hempfield but failed to get away with it this time. His cut-and-paste methods had initially worked. Stout brought in three other fake t
Apr 7, 2021, 9:01 pm - Lottery News

New Jersey scammer defrauds 3 elderly women of $675,000News Story
Lotteries urge players to be wary of the telltale signs you are being scammed By Kate Northrop A scammer from New Jersey tricked three elderly women across the country into sending her over $675,000 by convincing them that they owed prepaid taxes as a prerequisite for claiming a prize that didn't exist. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey, Shanile Lyle, 27, of Orange was charged on Monday with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after wrongly convincing her v
Dec 4, 2020, 2:39 pm - Lottery News

"Lottery Lawyer" Jason Kurland charged with robbing jackpot winners of millionsNews Story
Self-branded New York attorney is accused of stealing millions from his clients By Kate Northrop The self-titled Lottery Lawyer attorney who advised dozens of significant jackpot winners across the country is now being charged by New York federal prosecutors for stealing millions of dollars from his clients. Jason Jay Kurland has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in an indictment revealed today. Prosecutors are estimating that Kurland stole more than $80
Aug 18, 2020, 6:48 pm - Lottery News

Lottery scammer who stole thousands from elderly women pleads guiltyNews Story
Exposed fraud ring defrauded 16 known victims in a two and a half-year conspiracy By Kate Northrop A Colombian woman who helped a fraud ring execute lottery scams that systematically targeted grandmothers was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Tuesday, Luisa Camargo, 39, was sentenced to nine months in jail (that she already served) and two years on supervised release. After joining the fraud ring and causing thousands of dollars in losses, she alone will pay $38,069 in re
Jun 24, 2020, 7:48 am - Lottery News