Information for Victims in Large Cases
United States v. Elliot Phillip Rosenberg
According to the indictment, beginning in or about 2010, Elliot Phillip Rosenberg owned and managed one or more call centers in Costa Rica engaged in a sweepstakes scheme directed at individuals residing in the United States. Rosenberg and his co-conspirators fraudulently induced victims to pay thousands of dollars by falsely representing that the victims have won valuable prizes. Rosenberg and his co-conspirators continued to call and insist that additional payments be made for new fees until an individual is ran out of money or discovered the fraudulent nature of the scheme.
United States v. Jeffrey Robert Bonner et al.
Jeffrey Robert Bonner owned and operated “call centers”, located in San Jose, Costa Rica, where he and his co-defendants used to defraud United States residents, typically over the age of 55, by deceiving them into believing that they have won prizes in a “sweepstakes contest.” The indictment alleges that Jeffrey Robert Bonner, Cody Trevor Burgsteiner, Darra Lee Shephard, and their co-conspirators made calls to victims from Costa Rica. Victims were informed that to receive their “prize,” they were to wire, via Western Union, thousands of dollars for a purported “refundable insurance fee” to a so-called “insurance entity” in Costa Rica. When victims questioned the legitimacy of the operation, they were given phone numbers purportedly to United States government agents who falsely reassured the victims that they were, in fact, won a sweepstakes prize.
End of
Translation
The co-conspirators then allegedly continued to solicit victims to send more money until their victims’ funds were depleted.