A 38 year-old woman from New York was on Thursday sentenced in the US to more than three years in prison for her role in a Jamaica-based lottery scam that targeted the elderly.
According to the U.S. attorney's office, Kimberly Powell, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in August 2016, admitted she worked with her husband, Jeragh Powell, and others in Jamaica to mail fake lottery prize notifications.
The letters congratulated victims on winning a recent drawing and instructed them to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees, taxes, shipping and handling to receive their prize money and cars.
Scammers in Jamaica called the victims, directing them to send their payments to people in the US.
Powell and her husband, a Jamaican, collected more than US$65,000 from victims and forwarded much of the proceeds to associates back in Jamaica.
Jeragh Powell also pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced in January to three years and five months in prison.
Kimberly Powell's sentencing comes a day after Justice Minister Delroy Chuck signed orders for the extradition of eight members of the Lavrick Willocks network who are wanted by the US Justice Department for lottery scamming.
The St. Andrew Parish Court three weeks ago ordered their extradition.
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