FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – U.S. Marshals arrested a South Florida man after federal prosecutors accused him of joining two other men in targeting “at least 20″ people over the age of 55 in a multi-million-dollar lottery scam.
According to court documents, Nickoy Campbell, a Jamaican-American who lives in Margate, is being charged in Maryland federal court along with a pair of brothers from that state: Dwayne Henry and Wayne Anthony Henry, who live in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Landover Hills.
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Campbell, 29, was booked into the Broward County jail on Thursday and was scheduled to appear in Fort Lauderdale federal court on Friday. Federal court records show the Henry brothers were taken into custody in January.
The three men are facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
They’re accused of raking in “more than $9.5 million” from victims in states including Florida, Maryland, Alaska, Oregon, Tennessee and North Carolina.
According to an unsealed grand jury indictment, the men contacted victims telling them they had won millions of dollars in lotteries or sweepstakes, but to claim the money, they would first need to pay taxes and fees.
In one instance, prosecutors allege the men told a Florida victim that he or she won $8.4 million in a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, but to collect, the victim would have to send $100,000 to cover taxes and fees.
Authorities allege that the victim sent a $40,000 cashier’s check made payable to Campbell and deposited in Campbell’s TD Bank account.
In another instance, court documents state that the men told an Oregon victim that he or she had won a $5.5 million lottery prize.
Authorities allege that the victim was told he or she “received a metal briefcase containing partial payment of the lottery winnings and would receive a code to unlock the briefcase” after sending the required taxes and fees.
The victim was told that if he or she “opened the briefcase without receiving the code, the money would be destroyed by an exploding ink pack inside the briefcase,” authorities said.
According to court records, the Henry brothers sent that package from a Staples store in Lanham, Maryland.
Meanwhile, an Alaska victim was required to send cash via FedEx to Maryland Walgreens stores, including being told to conceal one payment “inside a hollowed-out children’s coloring book.”
According to prosecutors, the trio ran the scheme for over three years, beginning in October 2020.
They could face two decades in federal prison and steep fines if convicted.
Read the indictment: