ATLANTA – A Georgia woman has pleaded guilty for her role in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims.
Antoinette Albritton, 59, of Stockbridge worked as a telemarketer for World Wide Publication, a Georgia-based company involved in fraudulent magazine sales, according to the defendant’s guilty plea.
The company used fraudulent sales scripts to defraud consumers, many of whom were elderly or otherwise vulnerable, out of hundreds or thousands of dollars. The fraudulent scripts were designed to induce consumers through a series of lies and misrepresentations into making large or repeated payments.
Albritton falsely claimed that the victim-consumers owed a large outstanding balance for existing magazine subscriptions and fraudulently offered to pay off that balance in exchange for a one-time payment of $199.99. In reality, those targeted did not have any existing subscriptions with World Wide Publication, did not owe any outstanding balance, and the company did not have the ability to cancel ongoing magazine subscriptions.
Albritton pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Sentencing has been set for January.
The case resulted from an investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI with assistance from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.