You are here:  Office of Inspector General   «     »   Convictions, Restitution and Jail Terms Continue to Mount in Telemarketing Fraud Case

Convictions, Restitution and Jail Terms Continue to Mount in Telemarketing Fraud Case

Judicial actions continue to flow from OIG’s joint, international investigation of a major international telemarketing fraud scheme perpetrated by callers falsely identifying themselves as employees of the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies. Callers told victims they had won huge sweepstakes prizes in a national lottery sanctioned by the U. S. government. The victims were instructed to use commercial wire transfer services to send payments of $1,500 to $4,500 to Costa Rica, purportedly for insurance and customs fees that were required to retrieve their winnings. Many of those defrauded made multiple transfers to the telemarketers, resulting in more than $30 million in identified losses to U. S. residents.

From October 2008 to March 2009, 11 defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 15 years, along with restitution orders exceeding $70 million. In the case thus far, 26 defendants have been remanded to federal prison as a result of their involvement in this scheme, and over $200 million in fines and restitution have been ordered. Also during this period, one additional defendant pled guilty and was convicted on conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges relating to the scheme. He is the 34th participant in the scheme to be convicted during the course of this investigation. One additional defendant was also indicted in March 2009 on charges relating to this case.