Jamaican lottery scam arrest ripples widen

The police blitz on Jamaica-based online lottery scammers widened this week with news that two St. Louis, Missouri residents face sentencing in October after pleading guilty to targeting retirees across the US in the fraudulent enterprise.

The St Louis Post-Despatch reports that 32-year-old Andre DePass and 24-year-old Jayneise Hampton pleaded guilty Monday to several charges. A third suspect, 33-year-old Nollis Hudson of Montego Bay, Jamaica, remains at large.

Court documents say Hudson phoned retirees and told them they had won the Jamaican lottery but needed to electronically transmit or mail funds to pay the taxes on their prize. He allegedly used personal information from the retirees to obtain Social Security funds through prepaid debit cards.

Federal prosecutors say DePass and Hampton kept 20 percent of the money and wired the rest to Hudson in Jamaica.