The Arizona Attorney General’s office has shut down a fake veterans’ charity in the Valley it says is responsible for scamming seniors.
The attorney general learned about the telemarketing scam primarily from the children of victims who were typically elderly, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other memory-related disorders. The callers would convince them to purchase household products for a markup of 1,800 percent.
The three Phoenix companies cited are all owned by a man named Robert Foster.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Foster’s businesses, based in Arizona, would target vulnerable seniors across the country, falsely claiming the money would help disabled or disadvantaged veterans.
“They basically preyed upon people that didn’t have the ability to fight back. I think it’s absolutely despicable. It’s unconscionable," said Brnovich.
Brnovich said he plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session that will help law enforcement crack down on telemarketing scams such as this one. One loophole being exploited by scammers, Brnovich said, is that out-of-state charities do not currently have to register with the state when they call up people.
