A Canadian man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with a telemarketing scheme he operated out of Canada that targets Americans, principally senior citizens, it was alleged.
Denis Morin, of Montreal, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Worcester, MA. He was also ordered to make restitution of nearly $1.3 million for organizing and leading a fraudulent telemarketing center operating in Quebec that took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting Americans, according to U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.
According to Sullivan, this scheme involved telemarketers posing as lawyers, judges or other government officials. The victims were selected based upon the telemarketers’ knowledge that each had previously been victimized by some form of mail-in lottery scheme.
Morin’s employees reportedly informed these seniors that they had previously been defrauded but, as a result of legal action in Canada, were now entitled to receive a large portion of the supposedly recovered funds. The victims were told that in order to receive their recovered winnings they must first pay Canadian taxes on the award, according to Sullivan.
Typically, these “taxes” were demanded in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. In many instances, after a victim mailed his or her “tax” payment to Canada, the telemarketers sought either additional taxes or payments such as supposed insurance costs or other fees, according to Sullivan.
Morin and two other individuals located in Laval, Quebec ran the scheme at this particular boiler room location, Sullivan alleged.
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