American man jailed for selling personal information of elderly to Jamaican scammers

NORTH CAROLINA, CMC – A North Carolina man has been sentenced to just over 10 years in prison in the United States after being convicted of running a seven-year scheme in which he victimised millions of elderly Americans by selling their personal information to Jamaican lottery fraud scammers.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said that, in addition, Troy Murray, 57, will undergo three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of US$5,214,688.48.

In January this year, Murray pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court documents, Murry devised a scheme in which he organised, maintained, and sold lists containing the names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and, in some cases, ages and email addresses of elderly Americans to individuals in Jamaica involved in lottery fraud schemes.

The court heard that from 2016 to 2023, Murry sold these lists to Jamaican scammers, who perpetrated lottery fraud against elderly American consumers, earning Murry hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Murry was described as a prolific and well-known lead list broker for Jamaican scammers.

To complete the transactions, scammers would typically call, email, or text Murry for a list of names, the court was told.

He would then provide a per-list price, typically US$500 for 100 to 300 names.

The court heard that initially, Murry instructed scammers to provide payment via wire transfer; however, after multiple money transfer services blocked him from using their services, he instructed scammers to send prepaid gift cards to pay for the lists instead.

It was further stated that Murray’s list-broker service was so well known in Jamaica that his pseudonym, “Steve Dixon”, was referenced by a Jamaican musical artiste in a 2022 song lyric.

US authorities said that after receiving payment from the Jamaican scammers, Murray used the funds to purchase farm equipment, vehicles, and collectibles such as bars and coins made of precious metals.

Murry also sent money he made from the scheme to one of his sons to purchase personal property and pay for business and living expenses.

During the scheme, Murray sent at least 22,000 lead lists to scammers.

These lists contained the names and personal information of more than seven million elderly Americans and earned Murray more than US$5.2 million.

Victim losses exceeded US$9.5 million.

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