Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, filed a consumer fraud lawsuit yesterday on behalf of Iowans against a New Jersey man for his role in sweepstakes-related mail solicitations that allegedly misled and cheated elderly Iowans. The lawsuit alleges that Robert C. Schneider, who was doing business as Schneider Creative, of Englewood, N.J. enabled scammers to cheat susceptible elderly Iowans through deceptive mailings. The Consumer Protection Division investigators were led to Schneider after learning of a 91-year-old eastern Iowa widow whose savings were being depleted as she sent check after check in response to personalized mail solicitations from the scammers. Many of the mailings were made to appear as prize notifications for a large cash sweepstakes that would be delivered after payment of a $25 processing fee. The recipients had really won nothing and the money sent bought a virtually worthless list of publicly-advertised sweepstakes anyone can enter. The lawsuit asks the court to prohibit Schneider from designing deceptive solicitations directed at Iowans and to require payment of restitution to victims, civil penalties of up to $40,000 per legal violation and the state’s costs and attorney fees.
