US law enforcement officials say a Jamaican national was extradited to the United States, following his role in a long-running scheme to defraud a California woman.
The man has been identified as 35 year-old Dwayne Anderson from Hanover. He will face federal wire fraud charges.
Anderson is charged with eight counts of wire fraud filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in February 2023 and was unsealed upon the defendant's extradition to the United States on Aug. 22. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.
Anderson was arrested by Jamaican authorities on July 11, in keeping with a U.S. request for extradition. He has remained in custody in Jamaica since that time.
According to the indictment, from as early as 2010 and until September 2017, Anderson participated in a scheme to defraud an American woman.
Using phony names, he allegedly contacted the victim by telephone, text message, and email and falsely informed her that she had won millions of dollars in a sweepstakes.
Anderson persuaded the victim, who believed the defendant's false representations, to send money to pay various fees and taxes associated with the sweepstakes.
He instructed the victim on how, and to whom to send the payments.
It’s reported that Anderson repeatedly contacted the victim with additional requests to pay money and told her that her winnings would be forthcoming if she paid the requested money.
Anderson even induced the victim to travel to Jamaica in September 2017 by falsely informing her that she would be able to collect her prize winnings, according to the US authorities.
He reportedly told the victim to bring US$1,600 in cash with her to Jamaica and instructed the victim to give the money to a driver that met her at the airport. The victim paid the purported fees but never received any of her purported winnings.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Division, said the US Justice Department's Consumer Protection Branch is committed to bringing transnational criminals who defraud Americans to justice, wherever they are located.
USPIS investigated the case and the Jamaica Constabulary Force provided critical assistance.
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