Scammers Plead Guilty To $600,000 Lottery Fraud

PROVIDENCE, RI — Two people pleaded guilty to defrauding people of hundreds of thousands of dollars in several states, including Massachusetts, through a lottery scam. Victims were contacted to say they had won a lottery, but had to win a fee to collect their prize, the Department of Justice said.

According to acting Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Richard Myrus' office, two Jamaican citizens were behind the scam going back to May 2018. Jason Wedderburn 42, and Kayan Kitson, 38, were part of a conspiracy that reached out to people, often the elderly, telling them they had won a lottery with prizes ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to over $1 million. The victims were told that they had to pay "up-front fees" to collect their winnings, to cover processing fees and taxes.

To pay the "fees," victims were instructed to mail checks or money orders to Wedderburn, Kitson, or another person, or were given instructions to direct deposit money into an account run by the scammers. These payments ranged from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Myrus' office said. Some victims were told they had to make several payments.

The scammers stole more than $325,000 form one person in Massachusetts, court documents showed, part of more than $600,000 stolen in total. Most of the victims were elderly.

Wedderburn and Kitson were arrested in Florida in August 2020. Both pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 6.