A man from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Leonardo Vidal, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his involvement in a fraudulent online shopping refund scheme. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Vidal's operation led to wire fraud and money laundering charges after his fraudulent activities caused significant financial damage to retailers.
Vidal is the second individual sentenced in connection with this scheme, which resulted in millions of dollars being stolen from businesses. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik also ordered that Vidal serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
"Those running these refunding schemes induced others to essentially steal and cheat while claiming there would be no consequences," said U.S. Attorney Gorman. "These prison sentences are appropriate for the damage done to retailers and to our community in promoting these illegal schemes."
Records show that Vidal operated a fraudulent refunding scheme called Ressu Refunds from June 2021 until April 2023, gaining approximately 2,800 subscribers and securing $6 million in false refunds for followers. Starting in June 2022, he collaborated with Sajed Al-Maarej from Dearborn, Michigan, who ran another similar site named Simple Refunds through Telegram.
Al-Maarej received a three-year prison sentence in December 2024.
The fraudulent operations misled buyers into believing they could retain high-value goods while falsely claiming refunds from merchants. Purchasers provided details such as order numbers and addresses to Al-Maarej and Vidal, who then sought refunds through deceptive means like claiming non-delivery or returning boxes filled with junk instead of the actual product.
The men recruited insiders at UPS and the US Postal Service to manipulate tracking data so items appeared lost or returned when they were not. Customers kept their purchases while paying Al-Maarej or Vidal a fee ranging between 10-15% of the purchase price.
In December 2022, Vidal took over Simple Refunds from Al-Maarej but later sold both it and Ressu Refunds in April 2023 before launching another illegal venture involving reselling refunded items. When confronted by law enforcement officials, he disclosed storage locations containing stolen goods ready for sale online.
During its eight-month operation under Vidal's management, Ressu Refunds facilitated over 3,000 fake refunds totaling at least $5.3 million.
The total value of fraudulent refunds orchestrated by both Simple Refunds and Ressu Refunds during Vidal's tenure reached $6,067,168; he agreed to pay restitution equaling this amount.
At sentencing, Vidal expressed remorse: "I want to thank the FBI because I was going down a very dark path... I was not a bad person but I knew it was wrong."
The investigation into this case is being conducted by the FBI alongside the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), with prosecution led by Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Watts Staniar.