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Federico Hernandez Gamboa, Sweepstakes Fraud and Impersonation, New York 2024
Federico Hernandez Gamboa, a 51-year-old man from San Jose, Costa Rica, has been arrested for allegedly running a sweepstakes scam that targeted elderly victims in the United States.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Gamboa was arrested on February 10, 2024, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, and will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo in the Southern District of Texas.
As alleged in the Complaint, Gamboa and others contacted elderly victims while claiming to be high-ranking federal government officials, including the Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Deputy Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and others.
The scammers convinced the victims that they had won large cash prizes as part of a sweepstakes lottery and induced them to wire millions of dollars in supposed taxes and fees associated with their sweepstakes winnings to bank accounts controlled by members of the fraud scheme.
The victims collectively sent approximately $4.3 million in fraud proceeds to bank accounts controlled by members of the fraud scheme, approximately $664,000 of which was sent directly to bank accounts controlled by Gamboa.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the exceptional investigative work of the Special Agents and Analysts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and thanked the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their assistance with the investigation.
Gamboa faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; one count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory prison term of two years that must run consecutively to any other prison term.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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