Five Convicted in Two Credit-Card Telemarketing Scams
Two separate cases of telemarketing fraud involving credit cards came to an end Friday as four men were convicted of conspiracy in Iowa, while another pleaded guilty to felony telemarketing in Kentucky.
In Iowa, jurors in federal court convicted the four managers of a telemarketing firm, Gecko Communications, of conspiring to commit telemarketing wire fraud by scamming more than $10 million from almost 50,000 individuals with problems on their credit records.
According to the case brought by the U.S. district attorney, the four operated a business that promised call recipients a pre-approved credit card if they paid a $220 fee. In fact, all victims got in exchange for their money was a credit card application.
U.S. attorneys used as part of their evidence telemarketing scripts, some of which said customers would be
