Lotteries

Schemes, Scams, Frauds.

Home Up Jamaican Bust Lotteries 2006

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Foreign Canadian International Lottery Winnings Program Scams - Internet Email, Telephone and Mail Fraud Sweepstake Lotto Ticket Sales Scam



 


Other Lotto Pool and Internet Lottery Offerings

www.thelottopool.com  - Spam offering

Australian Lottery, World Lottery Office, $16.95



Nigerian Advance Fee Lottery Winning Notification Scams


Their Number Came Up

On February 15, 2001, a federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment against Jacques Tanguay, Christina Tanguay, Donna Mata, and Wilfred Veyt on wire fraud charges, including the sentencing enhancement for telemarketing fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 2326.3 

Jacques and Christina Tanguay allegedly owned and operated a British Columbia-based lottery operation called, at various times, Global Dividends International, Horizon 2000 Investments International, and Platinum International which during the course of the scheme, which ran from about November 1997 to May 2000, they induced elderly victims to send them more than $2.7 million.

Mata and Veyt allegedly managed and were telemarketers in the operation.


Lottery scam costs Fresno man $2,300

By Louis Galvan
The Fresno Bee

12/25/03 - A new twist to a scam involving the Canadian lottery has cost a 77-year-old Fresno man $2,300, Fresno police reported Wednesday.

David Case, a detective assigned to the department's elder abuse unit, said the victim received a letter from the International Lottery Sweepstakes of Canada, accompanied with a check for $2,450, notifying him that he had won $100,000 in the Canadian lottery.

To collect his winnings, however, the victim was instructed to deposit the check and then send $2,300 (to cover Canadian taxes) by Western Union to a certain Canadian address.

On Dec. 17, nine days after the victim had cashed the check and wired the $2,300 to Canada, his bank told him that the $2,450 check had bounced.

The next day, the victim received a telephone call from a person who said he was a lottery official and requested an additional $1,600.

By then, Case said, the victim had realized he was the target of a scam and did not send more money.

While the Canadian lottery does exist, Case said winners have to claim their prize in person and that there are other methods in place for paying the taxes.

For years, hundreds of Americans, usually the elderly, have been swindled of their money in such scams.

In the new twist, however, the victim receives a bad check upfront to cash and is then instructed to pay the taxes.

Case said his office gets about 12 complaints each year involving the scam.

The cases are referred to a joint task force, called PhoneBusters, comprising several law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.


Big Losers International

11/00 - The FTC won a $19.7 million judgment against Toronto-based Canadian boiler room telemarketers charged with operating an illegal international lottery scam which used high pressure tactics to persuade consumers to send anywhere from $29 to thousands of dollars.

They told consumers - most of whom were elderly - that they had been "specially selected" to participate in a system for playing the Canadian lottery and that they were likely to win a large prize or jackpot.

The telemarketers told the consumers that they were "registered" or "sponsored" by the Canadian Government to sell the lottery tickets, but failed to disclose that it was illegal to sell them to U. S. consumers though in fact, only a small percent of the money the telemarketers took in actually went toward the purchase of lottery tickets.

The defendants named in the FTC suit are Windermere Big Win International, Inc., Marathon Award Center, Inc., Sunshine Fortuity, Inc., Ernest Levy, a/k/a Ernie Levy, Alan Silverstein, Selvanayagam Pararajasingam, Michael Levy, and George Ola.

Consumers who believe they invested in foreign lotteries through one of the named defendants may apply for redress by contacting the FTC at 1-877-FTC-HELP.


Family of Fraudsters

On November 24, 2000, a jury in the Central District of California convicted Eduardo Cartagena on 10 counts of wire fraud. Cartagena had managed boiler rooms in Burnaby, British Columbia, that were part of an operation called, at various times, Global Dividends International, Horizon 2000 Investments International, and Platinum International.

The testimony at trial showed that the business name was changed often to avoid detection of the scheme. Cartagena’s stepfather and mother, Jacques and Christina Tanguay (see above), owned the operation and also operated a boiler room in Quebec. Cartagena had been arrested in May, 2000, after he entered the United States.

On May 14, 2001, Cartagena was sentenced to 70 months imprisonment and restitution to victims. The sentence was based in part on the jury’s specific finding that Cartagena had defrauded at least 10 victims over the age of 55, which made him eligible for an increased sentence under the section 2326 telemarketing fraud enhancement.


Premier Enhancement Required

On February 5, 2001, Joseph M. Polyak was arrested in Blaine, Washington on the basis of a criminal complaint in the Central District of California alleging wire fraud violations. Polyak allegedly conducted a foreign lottery scheme that involved calls to elderly victims from British Columbia under the names Imperial International Services, Premier International, 591117BC LTD, and ELC Services.

Polyak was subsequently indicted on wire fraud charges, as well as the telemarketing fraud sentencing enhancement. He is scheduled for trial on August 31, 2001.


Busted Flush

On January 10, 2001, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted two Canadian residents, Wilson Okike and Basil Mark Steeves, on 12 counts of wire fraud and six counts of mailing fraudulent materials relating to lotteries.

The indictment alleged that they operated fraudulent telemarketing firms in Vancouver called North Klassen Services, Globallot Services, Royal Flush Ltd., and Intersweeps Management Services.

Arrested in Blaine, Washington in December, they have both since pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and mailing of lottery materials.


Other Lottery Scam links.

World Lottery Organization list of lottery fraud operations or illicit lottery activities.

Lottery Prize Scams - NZ Gov


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