NJ couple arrested in multi-million dollar ‘Publishers Clearing House’ scam

A Hudson County couple was arrested for multi-million dollar contest scams that occurred last month, according to police.

In early February, the U.S. Postal Service reported to the Secaucus Police Department that they intercepted a package bound for a home on Edna Place, that contained approximately $52,000 in money orders that was believed to be sent by an elderly victim who was scammed.

Numerous packages similar to this one had been delivered to the same Edna Place residence in the recent past.

An investigation revealed that in 2023, victims from across the U.S. in states including Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska were collectively scammed out of over $2.2 million.

The scammers would call their victims on the phone, tell them that they won the Publishers Clearing House Lottery, and would receive a variety of winnings, including cars and large sums of money. However, the victims were required to send cash, money orders, and/or gift cards for taxes, fees, and IRS payments.

After scouring banking records, detectives discovered more than $1.1 million, believed to be sent from the Publishers Clearing House Lottery scam victims in individual accounts belonging to both Akeem Lee, 30, and Majda Hodzic-Lee, 42, both of Edna Place in Secaucus.

It’s not known if the couple ever made phone calls to the victims themselves.

Money was also transferred to separate accounts for businesses that the couple owned, such as Oxi Nation, a trucking company, and European Sparkle, a cleaning couple. Other banking records showed large sums of money were sent to businesses belonging to co-conspirators in Florida, Canada, Jamaica, and Japan, authorities said.

The Lees were arrested at their home on March 27, 2024. During searches of their residence, their 2019 Range Rover, and 2013 Mercedes Benz, a large amount of banking documents, computers, and cell phones were seized.

Both were charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.