The alleged ringleader of a debt collection scam has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to charges he and his employees induced more than 200 victims to make payments on fictitious debts.
Vincent Plumb and the other defendants, including his son, Alex, were also ordered to forfeit more than $130,000 in assets to make restitution to the victims of the scam.
“Most junk telephone calls are merely annoying and inconvenient, but these scam calls cheated vulnerable people out of their hard-earned money to line the pockets of greedy crooks,” said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, in a statement. “Vincent Plumb will find his telephone privileges are significantly limited from inside federal prison.”
The scammers were accused of purchasing lists of names of individuals that included birth dates, Social Security numbers, and mailing addresses. Those individuals were contacted by a call center operated by those involved in the scam. To coerce a payment, the individuals being contacted were told they would be taken to court if a payment was not made. The individuals who agreed to make a payment were then transferred to one of the three scammers to take the payment information.
Vincent Plumb owned and operated Crown Oaks Media, which was a fraudulent debt collection business based in Douglas, Ga. Someone from within Crown Oaks reported the scam to authorities.
