Colorado’s attorney general has secured a multi-million dollar judgement against several telemarketing companies accused of scamming customers.
Attorney General John Suthers announced Monday that the Denver District Court has entered a judgment against Raymond B. Jones, Jr. and several of his magazine telemarketing companies
“After many hour working to expose and prosecute this case, we are pleased the Court entered judgment in favor of the thousands of consumers who were victimized by this scam,” Suthers said in a news release.
The court order requires Jones to pay about $1.7 million in restitution for deceiving 4,924 customers through “de.ceptive trade practices.” The court also assigned a $2 million penalty and awarded the attorney general’s office $80,737 in fees and $955 in costs.
The attorney general’s office against Jones, his mother, Cora, and their companies in May.
The lawsuit claimed that through their companies — Publications@MileHigh, Publications@MileHigh 2, Subscription Solutions and others — Jones and his mother purchased a list of customers already receiving magazines. The two then called those consumers and pretended to be the actual magazine providers in order to garner customers’ account information.
The Joneses also convinced customers to participate in a recorded “verification” process about prior magazine orders. After the verification, the Joneses would then begin debiting money from credit card and bank accounts, saying that customers had agreed to an “oral contract” to pay up to $1,300 for magazines.
The order announced Monday also prohibits Jones from participating in any form of magazine solicitation in the future. The attorney general’s office reached an earlier settlement with Cora Jones, which prohibits her from participating in any future magazine telemarketing.
Carolyn Tyler, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said consumers who think they are victims of the scam should call the attorney general to receive payment.Consumers who believe they are victims can file a complaint with the attorney general’s office by calling 800-222-4444 or by going to
Matthew Patane: 303-954-5224, mpatane@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mattpatane
