Man scams $4M from mostly elderly victims

A federal jury in North Carolina has convicted a leader of a years-long telemarketing scheme that defrauded victims in the United States from a call center in Costa Rica.

Roger Roger, 40, and his co-conspirators posed as US government officials to trick the victims into believing they had won a “sweepstakes” prize, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial.

Roger would personally call victims from a call center in Costa Rica, using fake names and documents to deceive them.

After convincing the victims – many of whom were elderly – that they were about to receive a “significant” financial price, the criminals would tell them that they needed to make a series of up-front payments to collect their supposed prize.

The victims were told that such payments were necessary to cover taxes, custom duties, and other fees.

According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), the co-conspirators used “a variety of means” to conceal their true identities. These included Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, which made it appear as though the calls were made from the United States.

The DoJ said Roger, the architect of the scheme, personally recruited and directed co-conspirators to mislead victims over the phone and transmit victims’ payments from the United States to Costa Rica.

Evidence provided to the court showed that the defendants stole over $4 million from victims. The scheme victimized at least 10 people aged 55 and older.

The jury convicted Roger 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.

He faces 25 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit main and wire fraud, as well as the wire fraud, and 20 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering counts.