March 26, 2007
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NEWS: FL Man Arrested in Card ScamPeter Porcelli II, of Oldsmar, FL, was arrested in Illinois and charged with several counts of fraud after scamming tens of thousands of people for millions of dollars in a bogus credit card scam.
Illinois police say that Porcelli and his accomplices targeted consumers with poor credit to pay anywhere from $160 to $500 for a MasterCard. Those who followed through were sent an offer that was already available to the public, along with a bogus acceptance letter requiring an additional $15 to obtain the physical card. The cards turned out to just be prepaid MasterCards. Using this scam tactic, authorities say Porcelli defrauded or attempted to defraud some 165,000 Americans, to the tune of $12 million.
The federal government believes that the scam has been going on as long as since 2001. It was ordered shut down following a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Porcelli and his group, which barred them from telemarketing or peddling plastic, as well as ordering millions in restitutions. Porcelli filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
A federal indictment against Porcelli charges him with 19 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. Each of the charges carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and the most serious carries a 20 year prison sentence.
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