The creator of the infamous Escobar Phone, which rebranded Samsung Galaxy Folds at a significant loss, has pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud and multiple counts of money laundering. Roberto Escobar, the brother of Pablo Escobar, founded Escobar Inc. to capitalize on his famous sibling’s name.
The Escobar Fold 1, priced at $349, was actually a rebranded Royole FlexPai, while the successor model, the $399 Escobar Fold 2, featured a Galaxy Fold design. Customers were deceived into believing they received their devices when in fact, they never did.
Escobar Inc.’s CEO, Olof Gustafsson, claimed that the company purchased defective or overstocked devices from retailers, but this was just a ruse to avoid shipping them to buyers. Instead, customers received certificates of ownership, books, and promotional materials as payment proof.
Gustafsson also sold fake gold-plated iPhones for $500 and “Escobar cash,” which he advertised as the world’s first physical cryptocurrency. Tech influencers like Marques Brownlee were tricked into reviewing poorly made samples to generate interest.
The scam netted Gustafsson over $307,000 between December 2019 and June 2020. He has agreed to pay up to $1.3 million in restitution to victims and faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each fraud count and up to 10 years for each money laundering count.
Source: https://www.techspot.com/news/108761-escobar-phone-creator-pleads-guilty-scamming-buyers-never.html