Thirteen people were arrested for a telemarketing fraud scheme operating in Phoenix. About 9,000 victims, all over the age of 65, were scammed out of $40 million.
According to Police Chief Jeri Williams, the telemarketers would contact the victims and offer money-back guaranteed investments appearing risk-free.
Phoenix police Sgt. Maggie Cox said, “Once they got just a few dollars or a couple hundred dollars for the investment, they’d go back to that same victim they’d realize their vulnerabilities, and they would go back for more. Some of these victims literally lost their retirement savings."
Police say the company made false promises in order to convince victims to provide their debit or credit card information over the phone.
“There’s actually no downside, there’s no work you have to do, there’s no possibility of loss. I’ve been doing this for 12 years without a complaint," some of the telemarketers would say to convince the victims into the investment.
Mark Glassman, with the FTC, said, “The FTC filed a lawsuit in 2016 that shut down this operation, and this year we announced that we would return more than $7 million to consumer victims of this fraud.”
The investigation ended this year, but the case goes back to 2014. The suspects involved have been identified, arrested and charged with several felonies.
