Two plead guilty in $1.5 million phone scam of Spanish-speaking U.S. residents
Two Peruvians running the phone call centers that threatened Spanish-speaking U.S. residents with deportation and jail as part of a $1.5 million fraud now will spend time incarcerated before they’re deported.
Call center managers Rodolfo Hermoza Vega and Johnny Hidalgo Marchan (aka Frank Cruz) will join scam masters in Miami and Peru as punitive guests of the federal prison system. They’ll find out how long on March 26.
Phone harassment from those under the direction of Hermoza and Hidalgo, who were extradited in December, sent money flowing into the accounts of Miami-based companies Angeluz Miami and Angeluz Florida.
State records say those companies were run out of West Miami-Dade strip malls by Maria Luzula. Back in 2014, Luzula pleaded guilty to fraud and extortion charges midway through her trial. She now lays her head at the federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, until Jan. 2, 2026. Luzula’s Lima, Peru-based partner, Juan Rodriguez Cuya took his chances with the jury and wound up in the federal prison in Sumterville until April 8, 2029.
As for how much money they worked out of their victims, Hermoza’s admission of facts says he’s responsible for over $550,000 scammed. Hidalgo’s admission of facts says he’s responsible for $1.5 million. Their call centers, in Cajamarca, Peru and Lima, respectively, were named “Everglades.”
If this sounds familiar, a different bunch of Peruvians extradited last year worked the exact same scheme for a different scam company in Miami, Fonomundo FC and owner Cesar Kou Reyna. They just weren’t as successful. They managed to get either $250,000 (Kou Reyna’s admission) or $550,000 (Fonomundo FC’s general manager’s admission) from people intimidated by a voice.
The voice on the phone declares it’s from the “legal department,” sometimes of a U.S. city or state. You ordered this product from this company, but didn’t pay or accept delivery. But you’re still liable for costs. Unless you pay, we’re going to sue you and you’ll wind up paying thousands of dollars.
Or, we can settle this now for a few hundred dollars.
“Victims frequently objected to making payments because, in reality, they had not failed to accept delivery of any products,” Hermoza’s admission of facts says. “At times during the conspiracy, Everglades callers threatened victims who failed to pay with deportation, detention, negative marks on their credit reports, confiscation of property and community service requirements, for which they would need to take time off of work.
“Many victims made monetary payments out of fear for these consequences.”
The victims would be connected to Angeluz. After receiving payment, Angeluz would send packages to the victims that supposedly contained the goods purchased. With these shipping records, they intended to defuse payment refund requests.
