Bluffton mother, son charged in alleged $700K sweepstakes fraud targeting the elderly
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information from an indictment unsealed on Dec. 3.
A Bluffton mother and son face fraud and money laundering charges after a Homeland Security and U.S. Postal Service investigation revealed a $700,000 four-year scheme that targeted older people across the U.S. with phony sweepstakes prizes, according to federal search warrants and court documents.
Jamaican citizens Theresa Lawson, 51, and her son Rojay Lawson, 23, ran the scheme through addresses in Bluffton and Ridgeland, investigators say.
In September, each was indicted by a grand jury on one count of attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and multiple counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud and other fraud charges. After being arrested, both have pleaded not guilty and await trial.
Attorneys for both individuals declined to comment, citing the pending legal proceedings. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina said he could not comment on an ongoing case.
Search warrant details alleged massive fraud operation
On Sept. 1, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations asked a judge to issue a search warrant for an address in Plantation Point along U.S. 278 in Bluffton, court documents show.
The agent detailed how the Lawsons ran a “cash award/sweepstakes scheme organization with domestic and international connections” that promised older victims millions of dollars if they paid taxes or fees to claim the winnings.
The scam targeted about 175 people from all over the U.S., including Iowa, Arkansas and South Carolina, the warrant says. The Lawsons pretended to be representatives from “a genuine sweepstakes company, from financial institutions such as banks, and from federal agencies,” according to an indictment returned Sept. 1.
One 89-year-old scam victim residing in Bells, Texas, received a phone call from someone identifying themselves as “David Anderson,” according to the search warrant.
Anderson told the person they were a “Publisher’s Clearing House winner of $2.5 million and a new Mercedes,” documents show. The victim proceeded to send $1,795 to Theresa Lawson at a University Parkway address in Bluffton via Fedex.
The victim “has not received any cash award from the purported sweepstakes,” according to the warrant.
Two scam victims, ages 90 and 88 and living in Miami, Fla., lost more than $50,000 in sweepstakes scams over five years and had recently deposited $250 in a Western Union money order to Rojay Lawson, according to the warrant.
A person using the name “Michael Johnson” told the 88-year-old woman she won a prize and needed to send money in order to collect it. Johnson also deposited money into her account and instructed her to withdraw it and send it elsewhere, the investigator said.
“Victims are often instructed/convinced to use their bank accounts to accept money from other Victims,” the document states. “Scammers use the victim’s bank account in an attempt to hide or conceal funds.”
Investigators allege the mother and son transferred a portion of the $700,000 to “co-conspirators in Jamaica and elsewhere while keeping a portion of that money for their own benefit.”
Investigation leads to arrests
The September warrant appears to have been the culmination of a multi-year investigation involving several federal agencies.
In March 2017, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Charleston began an investigation into Theresa Lawson after a Bluffton post office flagged a delivery from a known scam victim in Iowa to Lawson’s address, according to the warrant.
Just under a year later, Homeland Security started an investigation based on the information the Postal Service collected.
On Sept. 9, the Lawsons were arrested and arraigned in court. They pleaded not guilty.
On the same day, the search warrant yielded four cell phones and miscellaneous documents from the Lawsons’ Bluffton address in Plantation Point.
Theresa and Rojay Lawson were booked into the Charleston County Detention Center on Sept. 9 and released the same day, according to jail records. A judge set their bonds at $50,000 each.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin in January, court documents say.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 11:18 AM.
