U.S.
citizen linked to Costa Rica call
center jailed for fraud
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
On Tuesday,
the Department of Justice sentenced a
U.S citizen surnamed Woods to 63 months
in prison followed by three years of
supervised release for his role in a $10
million telemarketing scheme that
defrauded primarily elderly victims in
the United States from call centers in Costa
Rica.
Assistant
Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski
of the Justice Department’s Criminal
Division, U. S. Attorney R. Andrew
Murray of the Western District of
North Carolina, Inspector in Charge
David M. McGinnis of the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Charlotte
Divison, Special Agent in Charge
Matthew D. Line of IRS Criminal
Investigations (IRS-CI) and Special
Agent in Charge John A. Strong of the
FBI’s Charlotte Field Office made the
announcement.
Woods,
35 years old, of Merrillville,
Indiana, was sentenced by U.S.
District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. of the
Western District of North Carolina.
Woods
pleaded guilty on May 15, 2017, to one
count of conspiracy to commit wire
fraud, one count of wire fraud and one
count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering.
According to the admissions made as part
of his plea agreement, Woods worked in a
call center in Costa Rica in which
co-conspirators, who falsely posed as
employees of U.S. government agencies
such as the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC), U.S. Customs and Border
Protection and the IRS, contacted
victims in the United States to tell
them that that they had won a
substantial “sweepstakes” prize.
After convincing victims, many of whom
were elderly and vulnerable, that they
stood to receive a significant
financial reward, Woods and his
co-conspirators fraudulently told
victims that they needed to make
up-front payments for a “refundable
insurance fee” before collecting their
supposed prize.
The members of the conspiracy used a
variety of means to conceal their true
identities, such as Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology,
which made it appear that they were
calling from Washington, D.C., and
other places in the United States.
Woods arranged for victims to transmit
payments to Costa Rica or through
people in the United States who
collected money from victims and
forwarded the payment to Woods and
others in Costa Rica, he
admitted.
At
sentencing, it was determined that Woods
and his co-conspirators stole more than
$1.5 million from victims.
This case was investigated by USPIS, the
IRS, and the FBI, with assistance from
the FTC and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations.
The case is being prosecuted by trial
attorneys William Bowne and Jennifer
Farer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud
Section.
The
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western
District of North Carolina provided
substantial assistance with this
matter.
More
information on this case can be
reached at U.S. Attorney’s site
here.*
This is the second
case in less than one week, on Friday two South Florida men, who
owned and operated a fraudulent tech
support business known as Client Care
Experts, LLC (CCE), a man surnamed
Seward, 32, of Deerfield Beach, Florida,
and another man surnamed McCormick, 46,
of Delray Beach, Florida, have both
pleaded guilty to a federal indictment
charging them with conspiracy to
commit wire fraud, admitting in the
process that their business, formerly
known as “First Choice Tech Support”,
was a scam.
Seward and McCormick were part owners of
CCE, based in Boynton Beach, Florida,
and considered themselves the chief
executive officer and chief financial
officer respectively. As part of
their guilty pleas, both men
admitted they also oversaw the
operations of another fraudulent tech
support business called ABC Repair Tech
(ABC), located in Costa Rica.
At least
57 victims of the scams were residents
of the Southern District of Illinois,
representing 22 of the district’s 38
counties, including St. Clair and
Madison. All told, the two
companies took in over $25 million.
More information on that case can
be reached on Tuesday edition
archive here.*
-------------------------
Have you heard about
expats linked to telemarketing
scheme that defrauded primarily elderly
victims? We would
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story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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