On Monday, it was announced that an Arizona man had pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to defraud elderly victims. In total, the victims were scammed out of almost $500,000. Court documents show that 38-year-old Raheem Oliver operated a magazine subscription renewal fraud scheme. The scam was started when Oliver and one of his associates contacted magazine subscribes and offered to renew their subscriptions over the phone.
When a victim would agree, Oliver would double or triple bill their account. He did so without actually renewing the subscriptions as promised. Oliver identified victims who were particularly vulnerable to such a scam and primarily targeted the elderly. He targeted the victims with threatening phone calls. The defendant threatened the victims with legal action and even arrest, if they did not make the payments as requested.
Oliver eventually managed to convince the victims to mail checks and wire money to him and his associate in Arizona. In total, Oliver victimized roughly 250 individuals. One victim was a 94-year-old resident of Alexandria. Another was an 84-year-old resident of Painter suffering from Alzheimer’s. The defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Oliver is now scheduled to be sentenced on June 22. At that time, he will face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Additional details have been made available here.