Prosecutors say telephone oil-lease pitchmen swindled 66,000
The earnest voice on the telephone described the offer as a sure thing. By sending $8,784 to the U.S. Oil and Gas Corp. in Coral Gables, Fla., the customer would be guaranteed—in writing—to win a lease worth $25,000 for the oil and gas rights on a parcel of U.S. Government land. Between September 1982 and June 1983, some 66,000 people drew down savings and took out loans to send the company money.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami, the customers were caught in an elaborate telephone trap designed to lure the greedy and the...
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