Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to $30 Million Magazine Fraud Scheme Targeting Elders

MINNEAPOLIS – A Canadian man has pleaded guilty on the first day of trial to his role in a $30 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, Abdou Diallo, also known as Abdou-Rahmane Diallo, 36, of Montreal, Quebec, was a co-owner and operator of Readers Services, a Canadian-based company that carried out a telemarking fraud scheme. From 2011 through 2020, Diallo and other participants of the fraud scheme targeted people who had previously been victimized by fraudulent magazine companies and were currently being billed by one or more fraudulent magazine companies on an ongoing basis—and used this vulnerability to victimize them all over again through promises of being able to cancel their unwanted magazine subscriptions. Diallo pretended to be from the “magazine cancellation department” and offered to pay off the victims’ “outstanding balance” and cancel their existing magazine subscriptions in exchange for a large, lump-sum payment. In reality, the victims did not owe Diallo or his company any money and Diallo had no power or ability to cancel the victims’ existing magazine subscriptions or any outstanding balances. As a result of this “piggyback” fraud scheme, Diallo and other participants in the fraud scheme defrauded more than 20,000 victims—many of whom were elderly and vulnerable—across the United States out of approximately $30 million.

Diallo pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court before Judge John R. Tunheim to two counts of wire fraud. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 5, 2024.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Additional assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Jacobs and Garrett S. Fields are prosecuting the case.