Fonomundo: Peruvian Call Center Owner Pleads Guilty After Cold Calls Threatened Spanish-Speaking Consumers

Here is what happened

On August 27, 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Miami grand jury had returned a 33-count indictment charging Cesar Luis Kou Reyna, 40, of Lima, Peru with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and attempted extortion. He had initially been charged by criminal complaint and was arrested by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) in Houston in July 2015 while traveling in the United States. He remained in custody.

On October 14, 2015, the DOJ announced that Kou Reyna pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The case was prosecuted by the DOJ Civil Division's Consumer Protection Branch, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

How the scheme worked

According to the charging documents and plea announcement:

• Kou Reyna owned and controlled Fonomundo FC, which operated call centers in Peru and payment and fulfillment operations in Miami.
• Fonomundo and its affiliated businesses used Internet-based calling services to place cold calls to Spanish-speaking U.S. residents.
• Callers falsely claimed to be attorneys, and sometimes government representatives.
• They told victims they had failed to pay for or accept delivery of products that the victims never ordered.
• They threatened lawsuits and large judgments, and some victims were threatened with negative credit reports, imprisonment or deportation.
• Callers said those consequences could be avoided by immediately paying "settlement fees." Many victims paid.

The DOJ said it was committed to addressing an increase in fraud schemes targeting specific communities of U.S. residents, regardless of where the fraudster is located or what language the fraudster speaks.

Why it matters

This 2015 case was an early example of a pattern the DOJ continued to prosecute for years: Peruvian call centers targeting Spanish-speaking consumers with fake debts and legal threats. Later prosecutions of other Peruvian call center managers followed the same model.

The case also illustrates that offshore operators are exposed when they enter the United States. Kou Reyna was arrested at an airport while traveling.

From a compliance perspective, the conduct violates basic rules for any caller. Falsely claiming to be an attorney or government representative, demanding payment for unordered goods, and threatening arrest or deportation are all deceptive and abusive practices under the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). For calls that collect debts, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) also prohibits false threats of legal action, arrest and false claims of attorney involvement.

Practical steps

• Callers must never claim to be attorneys or government officials unless true.
• Never demand payment for products a consumer did not order.
• Multilingual operations: apply the same compliance review to Spanish-language scripts as to English ones.
• Consumers: you are not required to pay for unordered merchandise. Report threatening calls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).