A man in California has been jailed for four years for masterminding a US$126 million print toner scam.

 

Seventy nine year-old Gilbert Michaels preyed on tens of thousands of small businesses and charities over many years by overcharging them for toner they didn’t need. 

 

Michaels was the owner and president of both Mytel International Inc., the telemarketing company involved in the scheme, and IDC Servco, which fulfilled orders for printer toner

 

Federal prosecutors said the two companies misled the victims into thinking they were connected with their existing suppliers of printer toner, which many of them were already receiving at no additional charge as part of lease agreements for office equipment. 

 

Employees of IDC Servco had threatened to use a collections agency or take legal action against those victims who refused to pay their invoices for the printer toner. In other cases, victims were charged onerous “restocking fees”.

 

By the time tens of thousands of small businesses, charities and other organizations that signed orders for toner saw the fine print, it was too late.

 

They had been conned out of a total of US$126 million over six years, the US Justice Department said, noting that the scheme had actually gone on for decades.