A man was sentenced Tuesday to 160 months, or just over 13 years, in the U.S. District Court of Arizona’s Tucson Division in connection to an international scam to swindle primarily elderly people out of money, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Arizona district.
David Odean McIntosh, a 29-year-old man from Jamaica, was convicted of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud that largely targeted elderly people. Along with his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said McIntosh is required to pay $1.8 million in restitution.
According to the press release, the scheme involved calling older U.S. residents and claiming that they had won a lottery or monetary prize but that they would have to pay taxes or fees in order to get access to that money.
The group of scammers also sent some residents fraudulent letters claiming to be the IRS that included threats to “seize their assets if they failed to pay,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors allege that McIntosh specifically was in charge of distributing “lead lists” that included the names, personal information and contacts of thousands of mostly elderly people that the scammers could lure into giving them money.
Additionally, McIntosh was charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering, as the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he had planned to launder some of the fraudulent money collected.
