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Shanile Lyle, 28, of Orange, was part of an international crew that called and conned seniors across the U.S. out of at least $675,000, federal authorities said.
The vulnerable victims “received telephone calls alerting them that they had won large sums of money and various other prizes,” according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark.
They were then told they'd have to "pre-pay" taxes in order to collect the winnings, it says.
The victims, in turn, sent checks to Lyle and her co-conspirators that they all deposited and shared.
A 94-year-old Hawaii woman sent Lyle at least 22 checks totaling more than $500,000 after she was told she'd won a $6 million Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, the government said.
Another female victim, 75, from Kentucky, was conned into buying cell phones and gift cards in addition to sending $30,000 in checks to Lyle, who told her she'd won $2 million and a car.
Then there was an 86-year-old Indiana woman who sent about $20,000 after Lyle told her she'd won "a large sum of money and an automobile.”
FBI agents arrested Lyle in November 2020 and charged her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
She took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty via videoconference on Thursday, Feb. 17, to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vera Varshavsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
U.S. District Judge Julian X. Neals scheduled sentencing for June 28.
ORIGINAL COMPLAINT: USA v. Shanile Lyle (FBI)
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