A resident of Lima, Peru, was extradited to the United States and made his initial appearance in Miami federal court, where he stands accused of operating a large fraud and extortion scheme.
Jose Alejandro Zuñiga Cano, 40, was arrested on Feb. 26, 2023, by Peruvian authorities pursuant to a U.S. extradition request. He has remained incarcerated in Peru since that time.
According to the indictment, the defendant managed and operated Peruvian call centers from January 2014 through February 2019. The defendant and his co-conspirators in Peru allegedly used Internet-based telephone calls to contact Spanish-speaking individuals in the United States. The call centers falsely told victims they had won raffles for free products, including computer tablets with English language courses. Many consumers expressed interest in receiving the free products. In later calls, victims were told they were required to make large payments to receive the products. When victims objected, the callers misrepresented that the victims had unlawfully failed to pay for or receive delivery of products.
“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch will pursue and prosecute transnational criminals responsible for defrauding vulnerable U.S. consumers, wherever they are located. I thank the Republic of Peru, including the Peruvian National Police, for its assistance extraditing this individual to face charges here in the United States,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department and U.S. law enforcement will continue to work closely with law enforcement partners across the globe to bring to justice criminals who attempt to defraud U.S. victims from outside the United States.”
“Collaboration between countries enhances efforts to strengthen rule of law,” said Inspector in Charge Juan A. Vargas of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Miami Division. “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service thanks the Republic of Peru and our law enforcement partners who were determined to dismantle this transnational scheme to defraud U.S. consumers via the U.S. mail and telephonically. Together, we sent a strong message, globally, that justice has no borders.”
According to the indictment, the defendant and his co-conspirators falsely claimed to be lawyers, court officials, police officers, and representatives of a supposed “minor crimes court.” The defendant and his co-conspirators falsely told the victims that they had a contractual obligation to pay for and receive products and had caused legal problems for themselves and others by allegedly failing to do so. The indictment alleges that the callers also falsely threatened victims with court proceedings, arrest, negative marks on their credit reports, or immigration consequences if they did not immediately pay for the purportedly delivered products and settlement fees. According to the indictment, many victims paid because of these baseless threats.
At times, the defendant and his co-conspirators re-victimized the same victims with a related “restitution” fraud scheme. According to the indictment, the defendant and his co-conspirators placed additional calls to those victims who had already paid and, while posing as lawyers from a U.S. court, falsely represented that victims were entitled to restitution payments that would compensate them for their losses to the defendant and his co-conspirators in the first part of their scheme. The defendant and his co-conspirators fraudulently told these victims that they needed to pay a percentage of their restitution to a lawyer who supposedly brought a case and recovered restitution on their behalf. In reality, there was no lawyer, no restitution order, and no funds were returned to the victims who made these additional payments.
A seven-count federal indictment was filed against the defendant in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in November 2021 and was unsealed upon the defendant’s extradition to the United States. The defendant has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and extortion. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. If convicted, Zuñiga faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
USPIS investigated the case.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida, State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Marshals Service, Peruvian National Police and the Peruvian Attorney General’s Office provided critical assistance.
Senior Trial Attorney and Transnational Criminal Litigation Coordinator Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorney Carolyn Rice of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.
The Justice Department continues to investigate and bring charges in other similar matters involving threats against Spanish-speaking residents of the United States. If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, experienced professionals are standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Justice Department hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available.
More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Consumer complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov/ or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Justice Department provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at https://www.ovc.gov.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its fraud enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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