Jamaican man gets 66 months in Suffolk sweepstakes fraud scheme

Adrian Lawrence, a Jamaican national also known as “Mastermind,” was sentenced to 66 months in prison in federal court in Central Islip for a sweepstakes fraud scheme that targeted older adults. U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack imposed the sentence in a case federal investigators tied to a long-running scam that used the promise of winnings to fleece seniors.

The Postal Inspection Service described the case as a $5.6 million scheme that tricked older adults and resulted in restitution. That scale matters in Suffolk County, where elder fraud cases keep turning up in federal court and in local law-enforcement alerts because scammers keep using the same basic playbook: a prize that sounds believable, a conversation that feels official, and pressure to respond before family members can step in.

Sweepstakes fraud usually starts with a message saying someone has won money or a prize, then turns into a demand for payment or personal details before anything is released. The clearest warning signs are an unexpected win, a request to keep the contact secret, a demand for bank information, Social Security numbers or other personal data, and any instruction to pay money up front to collect winnings that were never entered for in the first place.

Older adults are singled out because those pitches can arrive by phone, mail or text in a form that looks official enough to trigger a quick response. The Eastern District of New York has made elder fraud a recurring prosecution priority on Long Island, and this sentencing adds another chapter to that pattern.

Suffolk families who spot a similar pitch can call the Suffolk County Office for the Aging in Hauppauge at 631-853-8200. Residents 60 and older can also reach the Touro Law Center Senior Citizens Law Program at 631-761-7470 for legal help at no charge.