MIAMI
A federal judge sentenced a Lima, Peru resident who admitted to operating call centers that lied to and threatened Spanish-speaking consumers to four years and 10 months in prison, officials announced today.
Cesar Luis Kou Reyna, 40, operated telemarketing call centers in Peru that threatened victims across the United States with phony debts and other consequences of failure to pay the alleged debts that they did not owe, authorities said.
On Oct. 14, Reyna plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
“The threats made by the defendant’s call centers frightened and intimidated Spanish-speaking victims across the United States,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “As this case and other recent ones show, we will track down those responsible for defrauding and threatening American consumers, no matter where the fraudsters reside, what language they speak or which populations they target.”
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has a long tradition of protecting postal customers from these types of fraud and brining those responsible to justice,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Delany De Leon-Colon of the USPIS’s Miami Division. “Every day we protect our postal customers and the general public from falling victim to these scams.”
Kou Reyna owned and controlled a corporation called Fonomundo FC, which operated call centers in Peru and payment and fulfillment operations in Miami, officials said.
Fonomundo FC and its affiliated call centers used Internet-based telephone calling services to place cold calls to Spanish-speaking residents in the United States, according to authorities.
The callers falsely claimed to be attorneys and said that victims had failed to pay for or receive a delivery of products, although the victims had not ordered these products, officials said.
Authorities said the callers claimed that victims would be sued and that the companies would obtain large monetary judgements against them. Some victims were also threatened with negative marks on their credit reports, imprisonment or deportation.
The callers said these threatened consequences could be avoided if the victims immediately paid “settlement fees.” Many victims made the payments based on these threats, officials said.
Kou Reyna was originally charged by criminal complaint and was arrested by U.S. Postal authorities on July 30. He has remained incarcerated since his arrest and was later indicted on Aug. 27.