NEW YORK — Seven people have pleaded guilty in a lottery telemarketing fraud that U.S. prosecutors say bilked mostly elderly victims out of an estimated $2 million.
Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Tuesday the seven — all residents of Israel — carried out the fraud in 2007 and 2008.
Lior Orgad, David Yamin, and Mor Galanti pleaded guilty in New York, while Guy Mayo, Elad Mayo, Asi Almakias and Yaniv Kalbers entered guilty pleas March 15, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.
Prosecutors said the defendants purchased from list brokers the names and contact information of U.S. residents who subscribed to sweepstakes lotteries, and then falsely notified hundreds of prospective victims they had won substantial cash prizes but would need to pay fees and taxes before they could collect their purported winnings.
All seven defendants had been arrested in Israel in September 2008 and were extradited to the United States in November 2010. An eighth defendant, Shai Kadosh, is currently a fugitive, prosecutors said.
Guy Mayo, Elad Mayo, Almakias and Orgad face as much as 20 years in prison. Kalbers, Yamin and Galanti gave prisons terms of as much as five years. In addition, each defendants agreed to forfeit about $1.9 million, the Justice Department said.
"These defendants bet that they would strike it rich by preying upon some of America's most vulnerable citizens — the elderly — but they gambled and lost," Bharara said.
What a bunch of dummies.
Don't they know that only state officials can run lottery scams and get away with it?
And government officials don't like competition. These guys are toast.
whoever hands their money over voluntary/willing deserves to be robbed blind, the stupid and their money are soon parted ways.
but these crooks deserve the death penalty in my book also , if their the ones i seen in lottery changed my life shows type's
they started using death threats phone calls and other downright crossing the line ways to scare their stupid victims silly.
anyone with Evil intent to rob people out of their money, needs to be Dealt with in a xtreme way
the only way to stop future crooks is to Show current crooks we catch No mercy , ruthless Justice.
Just like P.T. Barnum once said, "THERE'S A SUCKER ON EVERY CORNER."
Nobody deserves to be maliciously duped.
That said, I did have some fun with these scammers. They tried to target an ebay listing I had up by telling me to cash some checks they sent me. lol. I gladly accepted. I got the checks in the mail a week or so later. Very badly forged checks by-the-way. I told the guy I cashed them and was keeping the money. lol. He got so angry that over the next 4 weeks he e-mailed me back dozens of times yelling and threatening about how he was going to contact the FBI. I begged him to contact the FBI. It was hilarious toying with him. At the end I told him I had "friends" in Lagos that would do him dirty if he didn't send me a steady stream of checks to cash.
Yeah.
Or like Herbert Hoover once said: "A CHICKEN IN EVERY SLOW-COOKER."
I agree, nobody deserves to be duped, young or old. It's a moral issue of what's right and what's wrong. Would they do this scamming to their own elderly family members? If yes is the answer; all hope is lost, and the family should disown or disinherit them, period.
They always seem to pick on old people...like ridge...
These guys are human garbage, hope they catch the last bag of trash.
I sure would like to
!!!!!!!
These guys probably thought no one would look for them in Israel since such scams are usually associated with Nigerians.
we need to deal with these "wastes of flesh" the old fashion way
take yer pick http://www.medievality.com/torture.html