Boston woman out $250K after being target of Jamaican lottery scam

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh woman has been charged with being a money mule who sent $295,000 to Jamaican conspirators after bilking elderly people in several states in a lottery scam.

Audrey Huff was arraigned Wednesday on charges including conspiracy, theft by deception and participating in a corrupt organization and then was committed for a mental health evaluation.

Police say Huff received money from elderly scam victims in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and South Carolina. They say she wired the money in nearly 300 transfers to people in Jamaica.

The Massachusetts victim, a 90-year-old woman living in Boston, was scammed out of $250,000.

“My family is mad at me, I feel sorry for myself, I'm sorry for my family,” she said. "Right now I can't buy a piece of bread."

Asking not to be named, the Boston woman described what happened.

“When I went to the post office, I mailed this money. Some of it went to Jamaica, some of it went to Pittsburgh,” she said. “They forced me, don't go to the post office. Go to federal express.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the victims were told they owed money to pay taxes on lottery winnings or to settle bank and other financial issues and were told to mail the money to Huff.

“Audrey Huff was the money mule in this Jamaican lottery scam,” Shapiro said. “She broke the cash down into smaller amounts and wired it to her fellow scammers in Jamaica.”

Now living on a $20,000 bank loan, the Boston victim didn't parse words when speaking about the suspect.

“If I have a gun and shoot it. That's all I will say. If I have these people in front of me, I have a gun, shoot them one by one,” the Boston victim said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group