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The following was taken from a press release distributed by the Gwinnett County Police Department on July 19, 2024:
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga – The Gwinnett County Police Department, in collaboration with the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, has successfully indicted two individuals on a total of 19 fraud and forgery-related charges.
In August of 2022, detectives assigned to our Electronic Financial Crime Unit began looking at Winston Dougan as a potential suspect in a fraud case where a victim in Illinois was scammed into sending a $192,987 wire transfer via a business email compromise scheme. The victim in that case thought she was sending funds to a service provider, but instead, the funds ended up in a bank account belonging to Winston Dougan. Through a series of investigative methods, detectives determined Winston converted the funds for his own use and sent Mikhail Roosevelt Keize a check for $133,000. On October 7, 2022, Winston Dougan attempted to cash a fraudulent check at a local bank using fake identification. Officers assigned to our Central precinct responded to the location and arrested Winston. During his arrest, multiple forged identifications and debit cards were discovered.
Detectives at Gwinnett County Police headquarters interviewed Winston and seized his cell phone for evidence before he was booked into the Gwinnett County jail.
Detectives then began a lengthy investigation into Winston Dougan, which uncovered that he controlled over six fraudulent bank accounts. Winston’s pattern of illegal activities resulted in approximately $441,000 loss between eight different victims. Victims were located across multiple states, including CA, IO, TX, NJ, IL, and FL, from June 2022 through August 2022.
On July 17, 2024, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office returned an 18-count indictment on Winston Dougan: seven counts of theft by receiving stolen property over $25,000, six counts of identity fraud, four counts of forgery in the first, and one count of forgery in the third. Mikhail Keize was indicted for one count of theft by receiving stolen property over $25,000.
Detectives would like to remind the public to use caution when receiving emails from vendors or service providers asking you to change or update your payment information. Detectives encourage the public to contact the vendor yourself and confirm the authenticity of the request.