Texas Woman Sentenced For Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud as Part of Lottery Scam

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that DEBRA KROM, age 47, a resident of Wylie, Texas, was sentenced yesterday for her role in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

According to court documents, in or before August 2013, and continuing through December 2015, KROM and others operated a scheme to contact elderly individuals and people with diminished capacity. The scheme involved contacting victims by telephone through Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) and informing them that they had won a lottery and needed to pay KROM and others monies by cash, check, wire, or other methods in order to claim their lottery winnings.

After receiving victims’ funds through United States mail, private mail carrier, or through an electronic transfer, KROM and other co-conspirators known and unknown to the United States Attorney, with knowledge that the money they received was obtained through false and fraudulent pretenses, did knowingly and intentionally transfer the stolen money to bank accounts in Jamaica.

U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced KROM to serve 12 months and one day imprisonment, followed by a 2-year term of supervised release, and to pay restitution in the amount of $75,928.

U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, United States Secret Service, and the United States Department of Homeland Security in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharan E. Lieberman was in charge of the prosecution.