Magazine Telemarketing Owner Gets 120 Months; "Cancellation Department" Caller Gets 90

Their cases show two sides of the same scheme: the company that sold unwanted subscriptions, and the "piggyback" caller who targeted the same victims again.

The Moulder call centers

According to court documents, Anthony Moulder, 63, of Fort Myers, Florida, owned and operated Florida-based companies involved in fraudulent magazine sales including Gulf Coast Readers Inc., ARCO Media Inc., KMK Magazines Inc. and Leisure Time Resources Inc.

From 2008 through 2020:

1. Moulder bought lists of consumers, many elderly and vulnerable, who were already receiving magazines through other companies.
2. He gave the lists to his sales teams and directed them to use deceptive scripts to get victims to make large or repeat payments for unwanted subscriptions.
3. Moulder and his companies defrauded thousands of victims out of approximately $86,589,272.

Moulder pleaded guilty on January 13, 2023, to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

His sister, Rhonda Jean Moulder, 62, of Cape Coral, Florida, pleaded guilty on October 14, 2022, to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. According to her plea, she managed the companies' telemarketing call centers in Cape Coral, oversaw the fraud day to day and responded to Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints from victims. Her October 2022 release said sentencing would be scheduled later.

The "piggyback" scheme

Diallo, 36, of Montreal, co-owned and operated Readers Services, a Canadian company. From 2011 through 2020, according to court documents, Diallo and others targeted people who were already being billed by fraudulent magazine companies.

Diallo posed as a "magazine cancellation department" and offered to pay off victims' "outstanding balance" and cancel their subscriptions for a large lump-sum payment. The victims did not owe Diallo anything, and he had no power to cancel anything. More than 20,000 victims lost approximately $30 million.

Diallo pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud on March 4, 2024, the first day of trial.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated, with help from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

The bottom line:

Purchased lead lists and deceptive scripts were at the center of this case. Prosecutors pursued both the original sellers and the callers who exploited their victims a second time.

Key takeaways

1. List sourcing matters. Moulder bought lists of people already receiving magazines.
2. Scripts are evidence. The deceptive sales scripts were central to the charges.
3. "Cancellation" and "refund" pitches are a known fraud pattern.
4. Complaint handling is not a defense. Responding to BBB complaints was part of the manager's role in the scheme.
5. Long sentences are possible for telemarketing fraud, not only for impersonation scams.