North Carolina man gets 121 months for data sales to Jamaica lottery fraudsters

A man from North Carolina will spend more than 10 years behind bars after US authorities said he supplied Jamaican lottery fraudsters with the personal details of millions of elderly Americans during a seven-year criminal operation.

The US Department of Justice said Troy Murray, 57, of Hickory, North Carolina, received a 121-month prison sentence on Thursday. After his release, he must serve three years under supervised release, and he was ordered to give up more than US$5.2 million.

Court records say Murray ran a major data-selling operation from 2016 to 2023. Prosecutors said he arranged and sold lead lists to scammers in Jamaica, with the files carrying names, telephone numbers, residential addresses and, in some instances, ages and email addresses belonging to older Americans.

Federal prosecutors said the conspiracy involved at least 22,000 lead lists. Altogether, the lists held information on more than 7 million elderly Americans.

Investigators said scammers in Jamaica used the data to approach victims through lottery fraud schemes. Those scams, according to authorities, led to combined losses of more than US$9.5 million.

The Justice Department called Murray a "prolific and well-known" broker of lead lists for Jamaican scammers. Prosecutors said the fraudsters usually reached him by phone, email or text message when they wanted names. Murray charged about US$500 for each batch, with a typical list containing 100 to 300 names.

Payments were first sent by wire transfer, prosecutors said. But after several money transfer firms barred Murray from their platforms, he allegedly told the scammers to switch to prepaid gift cards.

Authorities also said Murray used the name "Steve Dixon," an alias that became widely recognized in Jamaica. Prosecutors said the name was even mentioned in a 2022 lyric by a Jamaican musical artiste.

Money from the scheme was used to purchase farm equipment, vehicles and precious metal collectibles, including bars and coins made of gold and silver, authorities said. Prosecutors also reported that Murray sent funds to one of his sons to assist with buying property and paying business and living costs.

Murray admitted guilt in January 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The US Postal Inspection Service handled the investigation. The prosecution was led by Senior Litigation Counsel David Sullivan and Trial Attorney Ryan Norman of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division announced the sentencing.