Fresh This Month: Jamaican Lottery Scam Caller Gets Three Years in South Carolina

And it's the same old pitch: "Congratulations, you won! Just pay the taxes and fees first."

Some scams never die. They just get extradited.

So what happened?

On October 7, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that Alando Gentles, 43, of Jamaica, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for wire fraud conspiracy in a telemarketing lottery scam targeting elderly victims. Chief U.S. District Judge Sherri A. Lydon imposed 36 months in prison, three years of supervision and $349,433.75 in restitution.

According to the DOJ:

• Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) found that people in Myrtle Beach were running a cash award and lottery telemarketing scam with domestic and international connections.
• It ran from around June 2015 until around May 2022.
• At least 115 victims were involved.
• Gentles took part from Jamaica. He and co-conspirators contacted elderly victims by phone and mail and falsely told them they'd won a sweepstakes.
• Then came the fees and taxes.

Victims paid every way you can think of: prepaid cards, USPS money orders, bank money orders, mailed cash, personal checks, deposits into co-conspirators' bank accounts and wire transfers.

Gentles didn't just make calls. He received wire transfers in Jamaica and made ATM withdrawals there from an account holding scheme money, according to the DOJ. After he was indicted, he was extradited from Jamaica.

Here's the thing ...

Almost seven years. That's how long this scheme ran, from around June 2015 to around May 2022.

And the guy making calls from another country still ended up in front of a federal judge in South Carolina. I don't know about you, but "I was calling from Jamaica" doesn't seem like much of a shield anymore.

Why should you care?

Sweepstakes and prize promos are legal when they're done right. But "you won, now pay" is the oldest red flag there is. And elderly consumers keep getting hit with it.

Every one of these calls makes the next legit prize notification sound like a scam. Am I right?

What to do this week

• Never charge a winner to collect a prize. DO NOT do it.
• Don't take payment in prepaid cards or money orders for anything prize-related.
• Keep records of how every prize was awarded and delivered.
• Train agents to warn older callers who mention "fees to collect winnings."

It's not rocket science. Winners get paid. They don't pay. That's it.