Q COSTARICA — A Costa Rica resident was sentenced in July to more than 15 years in prison for carrying out a years-long telemarketing scheme that defrauded victims in the United States from a call center in Costa Rica.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Roger Roger, 41, led a fraudulent telemarketing scheme in which co-conspirators, who falsely posed as U.S. government officials, contacted victims in the United States to tell them that they had won a substantial “sweepstakes” prize.
After convincing victims, many of whom were elderly, that they stood to receive a significant financial reward, the victims were told that they needed to make a series of up-front payments before collecting their supposed prize.
Co-conspirators used a variety of different methods to hide their real identities, such as utilizing Voice Over Internet Protocol technology to make it seem like they were phoning from Washington, D.C., and various other places within the United States.
Roger recruited and taught others how to mislead victims on the phone and convince them to send money from the United States to Costa Rica for non-existent prizes. The evidence at trial showed that Roger and his co-conspirators stole over US$4 million from their hundreds of victims.
In September 2024, Roger was convicted at trial of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering, and two counts of international money laundering. At sentencing, Roger was ordered to pay more than $US3.3 million in restitution and to forfeit more than US$4.2 million.
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