New York Paralegal Blog

A federal court has jailed the marketer of a deceptive envelope-stuffing scheme for ignoring a court order that required him to stop his illegal practices. The defendant targeted Spanish-speaking consumers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, deceiving them to think they could earn substantial income working at home stuffing envelopes in exchange for a $37 fee. The only thing consumers received was a pamphlet telling them to place their own misleading ads to sell the same pamphlet to other consumers. The defendant kept up the scam despite a December 2008 court order that barred him from deceiving consumers and required him to close the post office boxes he used for taking orders.

The Federal Trade Commission has charged the marketer of a work-at-home business opportunity with violating federal law by falsely promising Spanish-speaking consumers substantial income for stuffing envelopes. The Commission seeks to prevent further violations and to obtain redress for affected consumers. In another matter, the remaining defendants in a similar scam have agreed to settle FTC charges for allegedly misleading consumers. According to the FTC’s complaint in the first case, the defendant marketed a fraudulent envelope-stuffing scheme to consumers throughout the nation, including Puerto Rico, via classified ads in Spanish-language newspapers and on a Web site available in Spanish and English. A typical print ad, translated from Spanish, stated that consumers could earn up to $1,500 and directed consumers to the Web site. More...