A North Carolina man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for selling the personal information of more than 7 million (70 lakh) elderly Americans to scammers, in a years-long scheme that prosecutors said helped fuel lottery fraud and caused victim losses exceeding $9.5 million (₹90.24 crore).
Data Sold To Scammers
Troy Murray, 57, who used the pseudonym Steve Dixon, pleaded guilty in January 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced on Thursday to 121 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to forfeit $5.2 million (₹49.39 crore).
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According to court documents, Murray sold lead lists between 2016 and 2023 containing the names, phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses of elderly Americans. The lists were sold to scammers in Jamaica and elsewhere, who used the information to commit lottery fraud.
Prosecutors said Murray’s alias was so widely known among Jamaican scammers that it was referenced in a 2022 song lyric by a Jamaican musical artist.
Millions Made From Lead Lists
Murray allegedly earned hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by typically charging $500 (₹47,494) for each list of 100 to 300 names. After wire transmission services blocked him from their platforms, he allegedly asked his clients to pay him through prepaid gift cards.
Authorities said he sent at least 22,000 lead lists over the course of the scheme, generating more than $5.2 million (₹49.39 crore) for himself. The operation allegedly caused losses of more than $9.5 million (₹90.24 crore) to victims.
Murray used the illegal proceeds to buy farm equipment, vehicles and precious metal collectibles. He also sent some of the funds to his son, Cutter Murray, for personal and business expenses. In June 2025, the Justice Department revealed that his son would plead guilty to one count of money laundering for receiving and laundering $1.6 million (₹15.20 crore) of the fraudulent funds he obtained.
Elder Fraud Losses Continue To Rise
Murray’s sentencing comes as elder fraud continues to surge across the United States. According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, Americans aged 60 and older filed more than 200,000 fraud complaints last year, a 37 percent increase over 2024.
Affected elderly victims reported total losses of nearly $7.8 billion (₹74,091.34 crore), marking a 59 percent year-on-year rise. The average loss per complainant reached $38,500 (₹36.57 lakh).
The report also noted that the U.S. Justice Department this week filed insider trading charges against a Google security engineer, accusing him of using confidential company data to place bets on the cryptocurrency-based decentralized prediction market Polymarket.
