The owner of a Miramar barbershop is now at the center of one of San Diego’s biggest elder-fraud cases, after pleading guilty in federal court Thursday to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiring to launder money tied to an international scam targeting older Americans.
Prosecutors say Victor Marion admitted he helped register shell companies, open bank accounts to collect stolen funds and move millions of dollars overseas for a call-center ring that went after seniors across the United States. Authorities allege the operation stole more than $42 million from over 500 victims over several years, using fake tech-support pop-ups and phony “refund” pitches to pressure people into wiring money. Marion is scheduled to be sentenced April 10, 2026.
How the scheme worked
According to federal prosecutors, the fraud crew lured victims with malicious pop-up ads that warned of supposed computer problems and ordered them to call sham tech-support numbers. Once victims were on the line, callers sold bogus services, then circled back to claim that customers had been accidentally over-refunded and needed to “return” the extra money…