Authorities have put a stop to an elaborate fake lottery scam running out of Florida. A 26-year-old man named Delroy Drummond plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
According to documents Drummond, along with others, called people, mainly the elderly, all over the country telling them they’ve won millions in lottery prize money. The only catch was that the “winners” needed to wire or send a few thousands of dollars to pay for taxes before they could claim the prize money.
Drummond and his team collected around $500,000 between April and December of 2015 before they were caught. His sentencing will be on May 31.
Wire and mail fraud are serious crimes in Florida. Both involve the intentional deception of a person or entity by another for personal or financial gain.
The difference between the two is that mail fraud requires assets to be transferred using a mail carrier, while wire fraud deals with assets transferred via the internet, phone or other electronic devices.
Assets normally transferred in fraud cases include money, property, or services.
A wide range of schemes and scams fall under fraud laws including, pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, emails from foreign princes, and many more. The penalty for wire and mail is up to 20 years in jail and hefty fines.
Both wire and mail fraud are under the larger umbrella known as white collar crimes, which also includes embezzlement, money laundering, and identity theft. Over the past several years, there’s been a surge in white collar crimes across the country. Identity theft has seen a sharp increase in particular.