{"id":161257,"date":"2021-01-13T21:28:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T05:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=161257"},"modified":"2021-01-14T10:58:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T18:58:57","slug":"vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Woman Gets Three Years in Federal Prison for Role in Sweepstakes Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 50-year-old Las Vegas woman received a three-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for her role in a $9 million criminal scheme. The action targeted mostly elderly and other vulnerable victims who received fraudulent mailers claiming they won prizes.<\/p>\n

\"Nevada
The Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse in Las Vegas in an undated photo. A federal judge there sentenced Andrea Burrow to three years in federal prison for her role in a fraudulent sweepstakes scheme that targeted the elderly and other vulnerable populations. (Image: US DOJ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the prison time, Andrea Burrow was also sentenced to three subsequent years of supervised release. The court also ordered her to forfeit $272,000, according to a US Department of Justice release. US District Judge Gloria Navarro handed down the sentence in a Nevada federal district court.<\/p>\n

\n

Prosecutors sought a nearly five-year prison term. They did so because they claimed her criminal behavior started well before 2010, when this case originated. Court documents also show federal authorities seized more than $237,000 from a Bank of America safety deposit box and her Las Vegas residence in February 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The mail scheme sent bogus prize announcements to individuals. The letters claimed victims would receive a large cash prize if they paid a fee, typically between $20 to $30. Burrow, authorities said, opened the mail, sorted the payments, and kept track of those who submitted payments in a database. People who mailed payments were then targeted for additional prize scams.<\/p>\n

Nine Charged in Case<\/h2>\n

Burrow is the first of nine people charged in the scheme to be sentenced. She entered a guilty plea on a conspiracy to commit mail fraud<\/a> charge in August. She and five others were indicted in November 2019. Those individuals, Mario Castro, Jose Salud Castro, Salvador Castro, Miguel Castro, and Jose Luis Mendez, are scheduled to stand trial in June.<\/p>\n

Three others entered guilty pleas to a conspiracy charge in 2019.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities say they have paid extra attention to cases like these that target seniors through the postal service.<\/p>\n

This case highlights the importance of reporting these scams to authorities, so law enforcement agents like our Postal Inspectors can have the information necessary to help bring justice to hundreds of thousands of victims through these large, successful cases,\u201d said Inspector in Charge Delany De L\u00e9on-Col\u00f3n of the US Postal Inspection Service\u2019s Criminal Investigations Group in the release.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The FBI\u2019s Elder Fraud page says that the sweepstakes prize scam is one of several that defraud seniors out of more than $3 billion annually.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re often marks because, as the FBI says, \u201cthey tend to be trusting and polite. They also usually have financial savings, own a home, and have good credit\u2014all of which make them attractive to scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to Avoid Becoming a Victim<\/h2>\n

Often, if something seems too good to be true \u2013 like an unexpected letter claiming you\u2019ve won thousands of dollars \u2013 then it usually is.<\/p>\n

The FBI<\/a> urges individuals who receive such mailings to check them out on the Internet. Enter the company\u2019s name, address, and contact information in a Google search. In most cases, other people will have submitted complaints about those companies or individuals.<\/p>\n

Individuals who believe they or a loved one have been targeted for a sweepstakes scheme are urged to call their local FBI field office. They also can submit information online at tips.fbi.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 50-year-old Las Vegas woman received a three-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for her role in a $9 million criminal scheme. The action targeted mostly elderly and other vulnerable victims who received fraudulent mailers claiming they won prizes. In addition to the prison time, Andrea Burrow was also sentenced to three subsequent years of supervised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":161258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVegas Woman Gets Three Years in Prison for Role in Sweepstakes Scam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Las Vegas woman was the first of nine people charged in a federal mail fraud scheme to be sentenced for her role in the crime.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vegas Woman Gets Three Years in Prison for Role in Sweepstakes Scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Las Vegas woman was the first of nine people charged in a federal mail fraud scheme to be sentenced for her role in the crime.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T05:28:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T18:58:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1280px-Lasvegascourthouse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"854\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/\",\"name\":\"Vegas Woman Gets Three Years in Prison for Role in Sweepstakes Scam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1280px-Lasvegascourthouse.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-14T05:28:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-14T18:58:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"A Las Vegas woman was the first of nine people charged in a federal mail fraud scheme to be sentenced for her role in the crime.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-woman-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-role-in-sweepstakes-scam\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1280px-Lasvegascourthouse.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1280px-Lasvegascourthouse.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":854,\"caption\":\"The Lloyd D. 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