A federal jury in North Carolina has convicted a man for his role in orchestrating a years-long telemarketing scheme that defrauded victims in the United States from a call centre in Costa Rica.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Roger Roger, 40, of Costa Rica, led a fraudulent telemarketing scheme in which co-conspirators, who falsely posed as U.S. government officials, 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, that they stood to receive a significant financial prize, the co-conspirators told victims that they needed to make a series of up-front payments before collecting their supposed prize, purportedly for items such as taxes, customs duties, and other fees.
Co-conspirators used a variety of means to conceal their true identities, including Voice over Internet Protocol technology, which made it appear as though they were calling from Washington, D.C., and other locations in the United States.
Roger personally called victims from Costa Rica, using fake names and documents to trick the victims into believing they had won a sweepstakes prize. He also recruited and directed co-conspirators to mislead victims on the phone and to transmit victims’ payments from the United States to Costa Rica. The evidence at trial showed that Roger and his co-conspirators stole over $4 million from victims.
Roger was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of international money laundering.
The defendant faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and the wire fraud counts because the jury found that these counts involved telemarketing that victimised at least 10 people over the age of 55, and 20 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering counts.
Sentencing will occur at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
