PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — A Portage man involved in an international scam promising cable and satellite television upgrades and subscription discounts has been sentenced.

Irfan Gill was sentenced to eight years in prison following convictions for mail fraud and money laundering in connection with the telemarketing scheme. According to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten, Gill was also ordered to pay $561,980.27 in restitution to the victims.

According to a release from the Department of Justice, Gill worked with a call center in Pakistan “that defrauded over 1,500 primarily elderly people across the United States into paying a total of more than $560,000 for cable and satellite television upgrades and subscription discounts that were never provided.”

Callers in Pakistan convinced the victims to mail checks and money orders to post office boxes in Portage, where Gill retrieved victims’ payments and deposited them into bank accounts in the names of fake cable and satellite television businesses, including Cable Upgrade, D Network, D Tech, Direct Network, Dish, Dish Upgrade, and Sky Satellite, according to the U.S. DOJ.

The U.S. DOJ said Gill avoided detection “by opening multiple post office boxes and bank accounts for his fake companies and by making efforts to convince several bank investigators that his fake companies were legitimate.”

The DOJ said in addition to the telemarketing scheme, Gill did not report or pay taxes on the
fraud proceeds and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he fraudulently obtained over $20,000.00 in
Paycheck Protection Program loans for a fake cable and satellite television company that did not exist.

“Irfan Gill preyed on older Americans to pad his own pocket, leaving victims scared and
ruined,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Every day these scams happen across America and
target vulnerable members of our communities.”