Gwinnett PD announce indictment in fraud case involving $441,000 loss between 8 victims

(Lawrenceville, Ga., July 19, 2024) – The Gwinnett County Police Department announced Friday that, 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,” GCPD announced in a press release. “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.”

GCPD said that that after detectives at Gwinnett County Police headquarters interviewed Dougan and seized his cell phone for evidence, he was booked into the Gwinnett County jail. The subsequent investigation reportedly uncovered that he controlled more than six fraudulent bank accounts and that his pattern of alleged illegal activities resulted in about a $441,000 loss between eight different victims. These losses were across multiple states including CA, IO, TX, NJ, IL, and FL between 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,” GCPD said in the press release.

GCPD is reminding the public to use caution when receiving emails from vendors or service providers asking you to change or update your payment information and encourage the public to contact the vendor yourself and confirm the authenticity of the request.

(Editor’s Note: Please note an arrest or charge does not constitute a conviction.)