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INTERPOL detains two
Jamaicans wanted by the U. S.
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Agents from INTERPOL arrested two Jamaican
men, both surnamed Levy, 48 and 51 years
old, who are wanted by the U.S. government
for fraud.
According to the agents' report, the
suspects, are brothers. They had a red
notification from the INTERPOL databases
with an international arrest warrant.
"Apparently, the suspects are linked to
the scam of more than $350,000 to the
detriment of U.S. citizens. They are
alleged owners of a call center in Costa
Rica, from which they prey on mostly
elderly U.S. citizens, through the use of
software. The software made the calls
received by the victims appear to come
from Washington DC and not from Costa
Rica," said the agents in its report.
In these calls, they allegedly told the
victims that they had won a grand prize of
cash, but that in order for them to
receive the prize they had to deposit a
certain amount through money transfer
companies. This was to cover the amount of
insurance for the prize won. Elderly
people made the deposits but never
received the prize.
One of the brothers was arrested while
driving in his car near to the community
of Ciudad Colón* in the
province of San José. The other was
arrested while traveling in a private
transport vehicle through downtown Alajuela*.
In both arrests, agents also seized the
guns carried by each of the suspects.
The two suspects were taken to the
detention center of the Public Ministry
where they were interrogated by the
judicial agents. They must now wait until
a judge orders their deportation to the
U.S.
Related to call center fraud cases, as
A.M. Costa Rica previously reported on
August 22nd, the Department of Justice
sentenced a U.S citizen surnamed Woods to
63 months in prison followed by three
years of supervised release for his role
in a $10 million telemarketing scheme that
defrauded primarily elderly victims in the
United States from call centers in Costa
Rica.
According
to the Attorney's announcement Woods, 35 years old, of
Merrillville, Indiana, was sentenced
by U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn
Jr. of the Western District of North
Carolina.
"Woods
pleaded guilty on May 15, 2017, to one
count of conspiracy to commit wire
fraud, one count of wire fraud and one
count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering," said the Attorney's in
its report.
According to the admissions made as part
of his plea agreement, Woods worked in a
call center in Costa Rica in which
co-conspirators, who falsely posed as
employees of U.S. government agencies
such as the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC), U.S. Customs and Border
Protection and the IRS, contacted
victims in the United States to tell
them that that they had won a
substantial “sweepstakes” prize.
After convincing victims, many of whom
were elderly and vulnerable, that they
stood to receive a significant
financial reward, Woods and his
co-conspirators fraudulently told
victims that they needed to make
up-front payments for a “refundable
insurance fee” before collecting their
supposed prize.
The members of the conspiracy used a
variety of means to conceal their true
identities, such as Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology,
which made it appear that they were
calling from Washington, D.C., and
other places in the United States.
Woods arranged for victims to transmit
payments to Costa Rica or through
people in the United States who
collected money from victims and
forwarded the payment to Woods and
others in Costa Rica, he
admitted.
At
sentencing, it was determined that Woods
and his co-conspirators stole more than
$1.5 million from victims.
This case was investigated by USPIS, the
IRS, and the FBI, with assistance from
the FTC and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations.
The case is being prosecuted by trial
attorneys William Bowne and Jennifer
Farer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud
Section.
The
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western
District of North Carolina provided
substantial assistance with this
matter.
More
information on this case can be
reached at U.S. Attorney’s site
here.*
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Have you heard about large prize amounts
being offered in exchange for monetary
deposits? We would like to know your
thoughts on this story. Send your comments
to: news@amcostarica.com
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