United States v. Practical Marketing, Inc.
Case No. 06-30134-WDS
UPDATED FEBRUARY 14, 2007
On February 9, 2007, Practical Marketing, Inc. a Florida Corporation whose place of business is Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to a criminal fine of $ 10,000 and was ordered to make a payment of $100,000 to the United States Postal Inspection Service Consumer Fraud Fund to assist the Inspection Service in the investigation and prosecution of consumer fraud.
On November 6, 2006, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois filed a one count Criminal Information charging Practical Marketing, Inc., a Florida Corporation, with one count of “Identity Theft,” in violation of Section 1028(a)(7) of Title 18, United States Code. The case arose out of an undercover type operation conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigating illegal telemarketing operations in Canada targeting residents of the United States in illegal advanced fee credit card scams.
The Postal Inspection Service operated the undercover operation under the name of “Premier Interbank Services” (both of which begin with the letters “PIS”) which posed as a Toronto based telemarketer headed by a well known Toronto area figure with a long history in telemarketing who at the time was in U.S. custody. “PIS” obtained lead lists from list brokers in the United States after providing sales scripts which clearly put list brokers on notice that PIS was soliciting an advanced fee in connection with the offering of credit, a violation of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The defendant transmitted lead lists with consumers’ personal financial information. One set of lists contained the consumer’s bank account information and routing code. Another set contained the consumer’s credit card number, expiration date and security code. The conduct constituted a violation of the Identity Theft statute because the lists were transmitted without the consumers’ permission for the purpose of aiding and facilitating a telemarketer who was violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule by soliciting an advanced fee in connection with the offer of a credit card.
Practical Marketing entered a guilty plea on November 6, 2006.
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United States Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Illinois
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