David Shemtov, Cell Phone Trade-in Fraud, Georgia 2024

California Man Sentenced for Cell Phone Trade-in Fraud Scheme

A California man has been sentenced for his role in a year-long cell phone trade-in fraud scheme that resulted in over $450,000 in losses for a trade-in company.

David Shemtov, 31, of Los Angeles, California, was sentenced to three years, one month in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $532,542.00, as well as a fine of $100,000.00.

The scheme involved Shemtov using lies and schemes to deceive a cell phone trade-in company about the nature of the cell phones he was trading, causing the company to pay substantially more than the true value of the devices.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Shemtov initiated over 8,000 cell phone trades and successfully tricked the company more than 1,000 times, receiving an overpayment of more than $450,000.00.

The scheme was uncovered after Shemtov was found guilty by a jury on November 20, 2023.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan stated, "Shemtov chose to exploit this process to fraudulently obtain substantially inflated value for devices he traded and at great expense to the victim company."

FBI Atlanta Assistant Special Agent in Charge Sean Burke added, "Shemtov used lies and schemes to pad his own pockets, causing financial harm to the companies and ultimately costing consumers more money."

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angela Adams and Alison B. Prout.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/california-man-sentenced-cell-phone-trade-fraud-scheme