Two Jamaican men face up to 20 years in prison after they both pleaded guilty in the US to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in fake international sweepstakes.
Federal prosecutors alleged that 51-year-old Maurice Levy and 54-year-old Derrick Levy committed a series of sweepstake scams across the United States, preying on elderly and easily confused victims.
It is not clear if they are blood related.
According to the Department of Justice, the two Jamaicans used a call center in Costa Rica and masked their location through fake US calling codes.
A statement from the department on Thursday said once a victim made an initial payment for the purported fees, the two men, and their co-conspirators would continue to call the individual.
They pretended that a mistake had been made and the victim had actually won a prize of a greater amount or an issue had occurred, and the individual needed to pay additional fees to claim the prize
Many victims sent tens of thousands of dollars to the Jamaicans and their co-conspirators in response to the calls.
Maurice Levy and Derrick Levy were accused of taking in almost US$10 million over the course of eight years.
