Sweepstakes Fraud Leads to Extradition from Jamaica

Inspection Service team members who helped secure the suspect’s extradition include L to R: Team Leader Del Alvarez, fraud analysts and former Postal Inspectors Brian Schellhase and Leo Santiago, and Postal Inspectors Otto Fernandez, Bladismir Rojo and Scott Horne.

Postal Inspectors have secured a first-ever extradition from Jamaica for a man accused of sweepstakes fraud.

The case began in 2009 when a South Carolina sheriff contacted Miami Division Inspectors about an elderly woman who had responded to multiple fraudulent sweepstakes offers sent by mail. She lost more than $120,000. Inspectors tracked down the suspect who duped her — and scores of others — through the wire transfers she sent. The suspect’s cell phone contained the names of other individuals in Jamaica who talked people into entering the sweepstakes. They disguised their calls with a device that displayed a U.S. area code to victims.

Inspectors arrested the man and submitted an extradition request to Jamaican authorities. The extradition is the first of its kind granted to any federal law enforcement agency for suspects accused of Jamaican-based telemarketing fraud. The suspect is awaiting trial in Miami.