PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — A Jamaican man who was running a publisher’s clearing house fraud scheme in Panama City Beach was arrested after the victim sent him $20,000, police said.
Panama City Beach police said 25-year-old Thaniel Thompson contacted the victim in April and told her she had won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes. All she had to do to claim her money, he added, was to send him some money first.
The victim sent $20,000 to Thompson, police added. However, during the investigation detectives learned that Thompson’s bank account had about $218,000 and that money was being moved in and out of it. They added that it was a “mule account.”
Thompson confessed to getting the $20,000 check and said he sent money to a “friend” in Jamaica, police wrote in an arrest affidavit. However, he denied any knowledge about other money in the account, police wrote.
Thompson is charged with grand theft.