Two brothers from Maryland have been indicted by a federal grand jury for defrauding their victims of $3.5 million over a three-year period in a lottery scheme. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Three-year scam
A federal grand jury has indicted two Maryland brothers for their involvement in a lottery scam in which victims were tricked into believing they had won the lottery.
Dwayne Henry, 32, and Wayne Henry, 34, both of Landover Hills, Maryland, have led the program for three years. During this time, they defrauded their victims of more than $3.5 million.
charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud
The two men were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. If convicted, the couple faces 20 years in federal prison.
What happened?
The lottery promotion took place between October 2020 and December 2023. The Henry brothers and co-conspirators targeted victims by mail and telephone, convincing them that they had won millions of dollars in a lottery.
To receive their winnings, victims were required to make an upfront payment via gift card, wire transfer, or cash. The scam worked because many people ignored the alarm bells.
They were led to believe they had won $5.5 million in the lottery
Using a false name – Anthony Henry – and a false address, the two sent packages and suitcases that allegedly contained the victims’ winnings. In one case, a victim, JP, was deceived into believing he had won $5.5 million in the lottery. JP was sent a metal suitcase that supposedly contained the winnings, but in order to open the locked suitcase, JP had to remit the “required taxes and fees” to receive the code.
The victim was told that attempting to open the suitcase before receiving the code would cause an ink packet to explode, destroying the money inside.
Never received any winnings
Over the course of three years, the Henry brothers allegedly tracked packages sent to and from the victims. Wayne reportedly received several packages containing the victims’ funds to receive their winnings, each addressed to Anthony Henry.
To put the money somewhere, Wayne opened two bank accounts to receive both peer-to-peer transfers and cash deposits. The brothers are believed to have sent money to each other using a digital payment network.
Because they believed they were unstoppable, the two pulled out all the stops to deceive their victims.
Packages that the victim believed contained $150 million in checks
In another fraud case, the duo sent packages that the victim believed contained checks worth $150 million. To obtain the money, a note asked the victim, JS, to contact the author, after which the Henrys asked the person to contact them at a phone number ending in 9391. . . about paying you the $150 million.”
It goes without saying that the victim never received anything.
