Statement by Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz on the Sentencing of Phony Sweepstakes Scheme Operator

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz issued the following statement regarding the Sentencing of Osman Bah, of Owings Mills, Md., to 108 months in prison for his role in a phony sweepstakes scheme that defrauded thousands of U.S. consumers of more than $10 million.  Operators of this scam called consumers and told them that they were from the Federal Trade Commission, and that to receive their prize, victims had to wire thousands of dollars for a purported refundable insurance fee to Bah.

“I’d like to thank the U.S. Department of Justice and in particular Lanny A. Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Criminal Division, for their work in bringing the purveyors of this despicable scam to justice.  As if defrauding consumers out of millions of  dollars weren’t bad enough, these con artists went a step further and actually impersonated the FTC, the nation’s consumer protection agency.  This sentence should serve as a warning to other scammers who would try anything like this:  Law enforcement authorities will find you, and you will go to prison.”

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