The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal court to order redress for consumers who it says were defrauded by a Canadian telemarketing operation.
The action names Dillon Sherif, who is believed by the FTC to be owner of the operation. However, Sherif skipped out on $200,000 bail in Canada late last year, according to Ellyn Lindsay, an assistant U.S. Attorney, who sought his extradition to the United States.
Sherif does business under the names ALS, GCI, Grand alliance Service, PBI, Power Ball Services, and Royal Marketing Group, according to the FTC.
The FTC alleges that Sharif targets elderly defendants, offering them shares in foreign lottery tickets.
Consumers are sometimes told that they have won millions in an Australian or Spanish lottery. To collect, however, they are told that they send money to cover taxes, duties or currency conversion costs, according to the FTC. These payments range from $250 to $999.
The FTC continued that consumers who paid were contacted again.
One woman paid $999 to participate in the Spanish lottery, and was later dunned for $19,000 after being told that she had won $2 million, the FTC said. The FTC has asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to order the defendants to disclose all foreign assets and provide access to records held by financial institutions outside the U.S. If it can identify them, the FTC may also sue vendors who helped the defendants conduct the campaigns.
“We might do that through Telemarketing Sales Rule provision that prohibits third parties from assisting violators,” said Mary T. Benfield, a Seattle-based attorney for the FTC.
Benfield added that the FTC “has the reach” to obtain redress for consumers.
Last year, the U.S. attorney for Los Angeles filed mail fraud charges against the defendants. In addition, a civil action against them was filed last October by the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, resulting in the freezing of over $1 million in assets.
The defendants also include Melissa C. Robinson, Saul Somerstein, Nariman Sabri Mikdad and Amina Mohamad.
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