14 DAY TRIAL // The United States Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against a man suspected of making over $11 million (€8.1 million) in a sweepstakes scam designed to trick people into thinking that they’ve won large amounts of money.
According to the FTC, Liam Moran of Ventura, California, and his companies sent out more than 3.7 million scammy letters over the past two years. The letters informed recipients that they’ve won millions of dollars in sweepstakes.
The victims were told that they were guaranteed to win the prize money if they sent a small fee of around $20 (€15) to $30 (€22). In reality, no one ever won anything.
On the backs of the letters they sent out, the fraudsters explained that they were not sponsoring any sweepstakes. The “fine print” stated that consumers were only provided with a list of available sweepstakes.
The FTC says these statements were not designed to clarify for letter recipients that they didn’t actually win anything. Instead, they were put there to provide the crooks with defense against potential law enforcement action.
Of the total of 3.7 million letters sent out in the past two years, 800,000 have been sent in the first half of 2013 to people from 156 countries, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Japan and France.
The scheme is said to have earned Moran and his co-defendants around $11 million (€8.1 million) since 2009. Most of the victims are senior citizens.
The list of co-defendants includes Applied Marketing Sciences LLC, Standard Registration Corporation (Consolidated Research Authority), and Worldwide Information Systems Incorporated. Worldwide Information Systems Incorporated has been doing business under various other names, such as Universal Information Services, Compendium Sampler Services or Specific Reporting Service.
As a result of the complaint filed by the FTC, a federal court has shut down the scheme and has frozen the operation’s assets.
This case clearly shows that advance fee scams don’t necessarily involve the Internet. Classic scams can still be successful, especially if seniors are targeted.