WASHINGTON (CMC) – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says a Jamaican national was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for conspiring to run a Jamaica-based lottery scam that targeted elderly American consumers.

According to court documents, Greg Warren Clarke, 30, from the western Jamaican city of Montego Bay, conspired to operate a fraudulent lottery scheme.

From September 2013, through to August 2015, the DOJ said Clarke worked with co-conspirators, including Claude Anthony Shaw, in a scheme to defraud “in which victims were called and falsely told that they had won over US$1 million in a lottery and needed to pay fees or taxes to claim their winnings.

“Victims were instructed to send their money through wire transfers or the mail to Shaw and other individuals,” the DOJ said.

As part of the conspiracy, it said Clarke and Shaw discussed, over the phone and through cell phone text messages, plans to receive victims’ money.

“At Clarke’s direction, Shaw received money from victims through wire transfers and the mail,” said the DOJ, adding that Clarke and Shaw discussed arrangements for victims to send money to other individuals with whom Shaw worked.

Clarke then instructed Shaw to send the victims’ money to Clarke in Jamaica, usually through wire transfers.

However, victims who sent money to Clarke and his co-conspirators never received any lottery winnings

The DOJ said Clarke pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for his role in the scam on August 19.

It said Shaw previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud in the US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In June 2017, he was sentenced to three years in prison, the DOJ said.

“Today’s sentencing demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to combatting foreign-based lottery fraud schemes targeting American consumers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s Civil Division.

“The perpetrators of these schemes will be prosecuted, regardless of where they live and operate,” he added.

Acting Inspector in Charge of the US Postal Inspection Service Miami Division Juan A. Vargas said “the Postal Inspection Service will continue to actively investigate fraudulent lottery schemes, based in Jamaica, directed at fleecing victims in the United States.

“We will not allow the fraudsters responsible for these Jamaican lottery scams to use the US mail to commit their crime,” he said.

The DOJ said its Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Jamaica to secure the arrest and extradition of Clarke.