Credit Card Scam Artist Gets 5 Years in Prison

A man who swindled hundreds of people with poor credit histories out of $4.5 million has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Victor Leroy Taylor, 37, used mailing lists to target people with recent bankruptcies, offering them credit cards for fees ranging from $25 to $75, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Kenneth White. He was convicted in October of multiple felony counts of mail fraud.

When victims sent in money, “all [Taylor] did was send them the names and phone numbers of banks he had pulled off the Internet and junk mail,” White said.

Occasionally, Taylor refunded money to people who complained--a common practice in so-called “advance fee” scams that helps deflect outside scrutiny, White said.

Taylor operated under an array of phony business names, including Colonial Financial Services, Fallbrook Financial Services and First American Financial Services. From early 1997 to late 1998, White said, the scheme pulled in $4.5 million from hundreds of victims across the country.

Taylor led a lavish life with the profits from his scheme, buying eight houses and two cars in a three-month period, White said.

U.S. District Court Judge William Matthew Byrne also sentenced Taylor on Tuesday to three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

In 1993, Taylor was convicted of a similar scam using direct mailings, cable television spots and radio ads to market a phony credit card service.

He was sentenced in Los Angeles Municipal Court to perform 480 hours of community service and pay restitution to 11 victims.

At the time, his attorney said Taylor intended to reword his advertisements to clarify that he was merely offering advice about remedying bad credit, not credit cards.