Sweepstakes loser to be on "vacation" for months

San Diegan Glen Adkins Jr. (aka Benjamin Walker and Robert Hayward) was sentenced October 30 to 300 months in prison for his role in a boiler-room sweepstakes scam. The case was tried in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina. Adkins/Walker/Hayward was convicted by a jury trial in August of last year.

The scam was based in Costa Rica, but victims didn't know the calls were originating there. People (mostly above age 55) were told they had won a fat monetary prize in a sweepstakes contest. Victims were falsely told the calls were from a federal agency, such as the Federal Trade Commission. The people were told to call a government employee, who assured them they had won. Of course, the call was phony.

Victims were told they had to wire money through Western Union to claim their prize. This was also fraudulent. Western Union scams are common, so this caper was a combined boiler room/Western Union scam.