Latest news with #PabloEscobar
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
The Escobar Fold phones were a scam after all
Remember those unbelievably cheap foldable phones branded with Pablo Escobar 's name? Turns out they were exactly what they looked like, too good to be true and a scam. Olof Kyros Gustafsson , the 32-year-old Swedish mastermind behind Escobar Inc. , pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges, finally putting an end to one of tech's most brazen scams. Gustafsson convinced thousands of people to shell out $399 for the " Escobar Fold 2 ," promising cutting-edge foldable technology at a fraction of Samsung's $2,000 Galaxy Fold price. The catch? Most never received their phones. Those lucky few (mostly influencers) who did get a package found Samsung Galaxy Folds wrapped in cheap gold foil, Escobar Fold phones were not made by Escobar Inc. The Escobar Inc caught attention when Marques Brownlee famously unboxed an Escobar Fold 2 on YouTube, revealing it was simply a Samsung Galaxy Fold with gold foil stickers slapped on top. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Why seniors are rushing to get this Internet box – here's why! Techno Mag Learn More Undo Even more telling, Gustafsson later admitted in company correspondence that the Fold 2 was "an overstock purchase of the Samsung Galaxy Fold" bought from retailers and wholesalers. The first device, the Fold 1, bore striking similarities to the FlexPai from Chinese manufacturer Royole, though Gustafsson denied any connection. Now, that Fold 2, per Marques, was sent by Escobar Inc. themselves. That tells that Gustafsson deliberately sent sample devices to influencers to drum up interest, knowing the buzz would drive more orders. It worked, The videos inadvertently gave the fake company some credibility, eventually pocketing over $300,000 from unsuspecting customers. Books instead of Folds These thousands of people who paid around $399, would get a "Certificate of Ownership," over their mail. After that one would hope for their Escobar Fold phone. Instead they received Pablo Escobar's brother Roberto's autobiography and a congratulatory flyer featuring scantily-clad women. When buyers demanded refunds, Gustafsson used these book shipments as "proof" that products had been delivered, successfully blocking refund requests through payment processors. The company didn't stop at phones. Gustafsson also hawked "Escobar Flamethrower," a dupe of Elon Musk's Boring Company flamethrower, an "Escobar Gold 11 Pro Phone" that was supposedly a refurbished iPhone, and even "Escobar Cash," that the Escobar Inc. marketed as the world's first physical cryptocurrency. None of these products existed beyond promotional materials and the occasional sample sent to reviewers. CEO faces 20 years jailtime for $1.3M fraud Federal investigators eventually caught up with Gustafsson's operation. He was arrested at his home in Marbella, Spain, in December 2023 during a joint raid by Spanish police and U.S. Internal Revenue Service agents. After unsuccessfully seeking asylum in Spain to avoid extradition, he was brought to Los Angeles to face charges for 115-count federal indictment Court documents show Gustafsson laundered over $307,000 through bank accounts in the United States, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates during just the first six months of the scheme. Gustafsson sentencing is scheduled for December 5, and he faces faces up to 20 years in federal prison on fraud charges and up to 10 years for money laundering when he's sentenced on December 5th. He must also pay $1.3 million in restitution to the customers he duped, though many victims are likely wondering if they'll ever see that money either. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
The Verge
21 hours ago
- Business
- The Verge
The Escobar Phone scam saga has finally come to an end
is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. The former CEO of the company that marketed the sketchy-looking Escobar Fold 1 and Escobar Fold 2 phones — which you may remember from a 2020 video from Marques Brownlee — has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, according to the US Department of Justice. In a plea agreement, United States attorneys detail how Olof Kyros Gustafsson and Escobar, Inc. took orders for the phones and other products branded with the likeness of the drug lord Pablo Escobar, seeded products with tech reviewers and social media influencers to 'in order to attempt to increase demand,' did not deliver the products to customers, and transferred and laundered customer money to 'use the funds for their own personal use.' In Brownlee's video, he unboxed an Escobar Fold 2 phone shipped to him and found that it was just a Samsung Galaxy Fold — a phone that cost nearly $2,000, far more than the $400 Escobar Inc. was selling it for — with a gold sticker on it. Escobar Inc. also sold a $500 'Escobar Flamethrower' that was 'modeled after' The Boring Company's Not-A-Flamethrower, the $500 'Escobar Gold 11 Pro Phone' that was 'marketed as a refurbished Apple iPhone 11 Pro,' and Escobar Cash that was 'marketed as the world's first 'physical cryptocurrency,'' according to the plea agreement. Instead of sending products to paying customers, Gustafsson mailed them a ''Certificate of Ownership,' a book, or other Escobar Inc. promotional materials' to create a mailing record, the DOJ says in its press release. Then, when a customer tried to get a refund for something that wasn't delivered, 'Gustafsson fraudulently referred the payment processor to the proof of mailing for the Certificate of Ownership or other material as proof that the product itself was shipped and that the customer had received it so the refund requests would be denied.' A judge has scheduled a sentencing hearing for December 5th, where Gustafsson faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the fraud-related counts and up to 10 for the money laundering-related counts. Gustafsson must also pay as much as $1.3 million in restitution.
Digital Trends
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Like heists? Now You See Me is one of our 5 underrated movies to watch on Netflix
Netflix is adding several high-profile movies in July. First, there is The Old Guard 2, the next chapter in the Charlize Theron-led action franchise. While The Old Guard 2 garnered a solid audience, Netflix subscribers are champing at the bit to watch Happy Gilmore 2, which streams on July 25. Beyond big-name titles, Netflix is home to many underrated movies with cult-like followings. Now You See Me is a terrific heist movie that continues to age well with time. It has never been considered a top blockbuster, but fans love it, especially now with a third movie coming this fall. Watch Now You See Me and other underrated movies this month on Netflix. Recommended Videos We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. Blow (2001) The life of George Jung — from a normal American to a top cocaine smuggler — comes to life in Blow, based on Bruce Porter's 1993 book of the same name. In the late '60s, George (Johnny Depp) moves to California and becomes a prolific drug dealer selling marijuana. After his arrest, George does a bid in prison and meets a cellmate with ties to the Medellin cartel. With his newfound connection, George heads to Colombia to learn about cocaine. Eventually, he becomes Pablo Escobar's right-hand man. Similar to the highs and lows of cocaine, George reaches life's summit before it all comes crashing down to a bitter end. There are better movies centered around drugs, but I'd argue that Depp's performance is one of the best in the genre. Plus, Blow is backed by an A+ soundtrack. Stream Blow on Netflix. Plane (2023) Gerard Butler finds himself on a lot of 'watch underrated movies on this streaming service' lists. When you're one of the only actors starring in action movies ripped from the '90s, people will respond to your work. Take Plane, a 2023 thriller where Butler becomes a one-man army. While flying from Singapore to Honolulu, pilot Brodie Torrance (Butler) is forced to crash-land on a remote island in the Philippines. Unbeknownst to Brodie, he and his passengers landed in a place run by rebels. When Brodie goes looking for help, the rebels kidnap the passengers and take them as hostages. The only way off the island is the same way they got on — the plane. But first, he'll need to rely on the help of a homicide suspect (Mike Colter) to rescue his passengers. Stream Plane on Netflix. Red Eye (2005) Speaking of planes, if Cillian Murphy talks to you at the airport bar, assume it involves nefarious activities. At least that's the plot of Red Eye, Wes Craven's vastly underrated thriller from 2005. While waiting for her flight from Dallas to Miami, hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) meets the pleasant Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). They engage in some charming small talk while they wait to board. Lo and behold, Lisa and Jackson sit next to each other on the plane. This wasn't fate; it was a setup. Jackson works for a terrorist organization that plans to assassinate the head of Homeland Security, who is staying at Lisa's hotel. Jackson needs Lisa to change the executive's room number and will get it done by any means necessary. With an 85-minute runtime, Red Eye is a quick, efficient thriller that uses the claustrophobic setting to its advantage. Stream Red Eye on Netflix. Now You See Me (2013) When you think about it, magicians should be good thieves thanks to sleight of hand, deception, charisma, and creativity. It's believable that a group of illusionists in Now You See Me could commit some of the world's most impressive robberies. The group — J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) — calls themselves the Four Horsemen, and instead of keeping the money for themselves, they share it with their audience. Regardless of their intentions, the heists are illegal and attract the attention of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), who teams with French Interpol agent Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent) and magician-turned-debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to catch the Horsemen. Now You See Me is good old-fashioned popcorn entertainment. Stream Now You See Me on Netflix. Road Trip (2000) The teen sex comedy experienced a resurgence in the 2000s. American Pie, Not Another Teen Movie, EuroTrip, and The Girl Next Door all developed significant followings in the aughts. Add Road Trip to that list, which marked the directorial debut of future Oscar nominee Todd Phillips. A group of friends at Ithaca College face an intriguing dilemma. Josh Parker (Breckin Meyer) makes a sex tape with fellow student Beth Wagner (Amy Smart). That tape was accidentally mailed to Josh's long-distance girlfriend in Austin, Texas. Fearing the consequences of his actions, Josh convinces his friends to take a road trip to Texas and steal the tape before it reaches his girlfriend. Obviously, hijinks ensue. While mindless at times, Road Trip has an unexpected amount of laughs in this surprisingly effective comedy. Stream Road Trip on Netflix.
Buzz Feed
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
This Photo Of Pope Leo In His 20s Is Going Viral
Pope Leo has been on the job for about two months now. As you probably know, the first American Pope is from Chicago, and he studied theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in the early '80s. That pic has been viewed over 10 million times! You have the usual thirst tweets. "Oh, he could have it. Respectfully..." Then there are people talking about the mustache. "Love the Holy Father's stash." A bunch of people likened him to the character of Pablo Escobar from Narcos. "Cue narcos theme song." People are saying how *regular* the Pope looked. "Hard to believe. Regular guy." And this person said "I see a great role for Pedro Pascal." Which, true, I totally see it.
Buzz Feed
06-07-2025
- Buzz Feed
I Spent Years Making Millions Smuggling Cocaine For Pablo Escobar And No One Had Any Idea
Back in the 1980s, I was leading a double life. By day, I owned and operated the largest Lamborghini dealership in the United States. But by night, I was secretly flying tons of cocaine for Pablo Escobar and smuggling it into South Florida. I never set out to be a cocaine smuggler. My dad was a real estate developer in Miami and my mom was a homemaker. I had a great childhood. But becoming the victim of a duplicitous con artist completely changed the trajectory of my life and turned me into a different person. And a few years later, I was making tens of millions of dollars every month in the cocaine business. At the height of my success, I owned 30 airplanes, dozens of boats, multiple mansions and Lamborghinis. I even had a pet mountain lion named Top Cat. But it all came crashing down in April of 1988 when I was arrested in an early morning raid by federal agents. As I was crouched on my knees getting handcuffed, and as federal agents surrounded me with guns drawn pointing at my head, I thought to myself, 'How the hell did I get here?' I was born in Cuba back in 1952. At that point my father was a senator, a really respectable and noble man. And all I wanted to do, all I ever wanted to do was follow in his footsteps. The brutal dictatorship of Fidel Castro forced my family to flee Cuba and make a new life for ourselves in South Florida. My dad started working in construction, and before long he became a very successful real estate developer. When I was 17 years old, my dad decided to get into the sugar business. He purchased land in Haiti to build a sugar mill and spent the next few years trying to get that sugar mill up and running. I was my dad's shadow. I followed him everywhere. He wore a suit and had a briefcase. I wore a similar suit and carried a similar briefcase. I was with him at every single business meeting, and he taught me everything he knew. He was the best father any son could have asked for. But tragically, when I was 19 years old, my father got cancer and died quickly over the course of a few months. On his deathbed, he made me promise him that I would get that sugar mill in Haiti off the ground. And I swore to him that I would. Before he passed away, my dad had secured a $14 million loan for the sugar mill in Haiti. But after his death, the bank refused to honor that loan and refused to acknowledge me as a capable heir. They dismissed me as a 'kid' and wished me luck finding the $14 million at another lending institution. I was grieving the loss of my father, and I was desperate to keep the promise I had made to him. I worked all my contacts and my dad's contacts and eventually found a banker willing to loan me the money. All he needed was a $100,000 'good faith' deposit. I was young and desperate, a truly dangerous combination. I didn't suspect that once I made that deposit, that banker would stop talking to me. And then he would start avoiding me. For months. When I eventually showed up unannounced at his office one day, I was stunned to see other victims there demanding their money back, too. That banker turned out to be a ruthless con artist. I was devastated. At that point, I was defaulting on loans my father had already taken out for the sugar mill, for the land and for the machinery. And I was severely in debt to the government of Haiti. I needed money and I needed it fast. It was the mid-1970s and I knew that selling marijuana could make me a lot of cash in a short amount of time. So, I bought a boat and set sail for the Bahamas, where I knew all the pot being sold in South Florida was coming from. I was fortunate to make a great contact when I got there and sailed back to South Florida with a few hundred pounds of weed stashed away in my boat. I paid $25,000 for all that marijuana and sold it for $100,000. It wasn't the $14 million I needed to get the sugar mill in Haiti off the ground, but it was definitely a good start. At that point, I started making regular trips to the Bahamas. But then the weed supply there started to dry up. You see, the marijuana that I had access to in the Bahamas was marijuana the government confiscated ― which ultimately ended up on the black market, where I would purchase it. But there were months when they didn't confiscate much pot ― so there wasn't much I could buy. So I decided to go where the pot grows: Colombia. But to get to Colombia, I would need to buy an airplane and learn how to fly it. So that's exactly what I did. I opened the classifieds section of the newspaper (remember those?) and found a little twin-engine Beechcraft for sale for $50,000. It was a real bucket of bolts, but I bought it and repaired it and quickly learned how to fly. My first trip to Colombia in 1979 was a huge success. I brought back a ton of marijuana and sold it and made a few hundred thousand dollars. At that point I was able to get credit for more marijuana. So, I flew back and got another $800,000 worth of pot. On credit. That turned out to be a huge mistake because I ended up losing that marijuana. I was flying at night and I thought I dropped the marijuana out of my plane onto my boat that was waiting below off the coast of Florida, but it turned out to be someone else's boat. And they made off with my marijuana. I owed those Colombian suppliers $800,000 for that weed. Two weeks later, they sent thugs to kidnap me. And those thugs put a gun to my head and told me that if they didn't get their $800,000 — in 48 hours ― they would kill me. And then kill my entire family. Up until that point, I had avoided anything to do with cocaine. Because in my mind, the cocaine guys were the 'bad guys.' The cocaine guys were the killers. I was just smuggling marijuana to make enough money to get my dad's sugar mill off the ground. But my life was on the line now, and so were the lives of my family. And flying cocaine was 100 times more profitable than flying marijuana. So I flew to Colombia, picked up a load of cocaine, and flew it back. And I made $1 million from doing that one trip alone. I paid the Colombians back their $800,000 and saved my life. But the realization that I could make $1 million a trip flying cocaine changed everything for me. Suddenly my marijuana smuggling days were in the rearview mirror. As a full-time cocaine smuggler, I was making $1 million a week. I quickly developed a stellar reputation in the world of cocaine pilots. Primarily because most cocaine pilots during that time partook in the cocaine they were smuggling, and they were always high. I, on the other hand, had never done drugs in my life. Not marijuana. Not cocaine. Not any drug. That really seemed to separate me from the other pilots of the day who were constantly late and constantly crashing their airplanes, losing loads of cocaine. I was never late. And I never lost a plane load of cocaine. Ever. In 1983, Pablo Escobar sent one of his underlings to summon me. He had heard of me and heard about my reputation for never losing a load and he wanted to hire me to smuggle cocaine for him. After a tense back-and-forth negotiation in his secret lair deep in the Colombian jungle, I agreed to fly 1,000 kilos of coke for Pablo Escobar. And he agreed to pay me $5 million to do it. After I started making weekly $5 million trips for Pablo Escobar, he stopped paying me in cash ― and started paying me in cocaine. The cocaine that Pablo Escobar paid me with, I sold in South Florida and all over the country, becoming a cocaine kingpin in my own right. Sadly, by the time I had enough money to resurrect my father's sugar mill, it was no longer salvageable. The government of Haiti had taken it over years earlier and run it into the ground. This was during the rule of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, and the nation was in steep decline. As I walked through the rubble where my father's sugar mill once stood, I realized it would never, ever be. So I flew back to Miami and parlayed all the money I was making into a Lamborghini dealership, and I bought a cell phone company ― in the mid 1980s, when cellphones cost $5,000 each. I also started building and selling homes in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area and became a real estate developer. In the end — adjusted for inflation — I was grossing nearly $100 million a month at the height of my cocaine career — smuggling and selling tons and tons of cocaine every week. Keep in mind, back in the 1980s, cocaine was selling for as much as $600 per gram. And there are more than 900,000 grams in a ton (plane load) so I was swimming in money. But then one of my underlings got addicted to the coke we were smuggling and got very sloppy. And then he got busted. And he served me up to the Feds on a silver platter in order to get a lighter prison sentence for himself. I was arrested in April of 1988. And in early 1991, I pled guilty to multiple felonies including the distribution of marijuana, the distribution of cocaine and money laundering. I ended up serving a total of 13 years in federal prison. Going to prison was devastating for me. Not just because of the loss of my freedom. But because my family and friends discovered my secret. And I was so ashamed and embarrassed. After I was arrested, my mom came to see me. With a heartbreaking look of pain and disbelief on her face, she said, 'Son, tell me what they're saying about you isn't true.' I still tear up thinking about that moment. Before that, my double life was fueled by compartmentalization. There was 'the good me' that my family knew, who was running successful legitimate businesses and making a lot of money, and who they were extremely proud of. Then there was the 'cocaine kingpin me' who was smuggling and selling tons and tons of cocaine for Pablo Escobar. I meticulously hid that side of me from them, because I knew they would be so ashamed of that version of me they never would have accepted it. As the years passed, I painstakingly kept both worlds, both versions of myself, separate. And as long as these two versions of me never collided, I was able to feel good or at least, OK, about each one of them. But after my arrest, only one version of me remained – the cocaine smuggler. And my family was heartbroken over it for a long time. My family has since forgiven me for the past. But I still can't forgive myself. It haunts me every single day. I've served my time, and I've learned a lot about life being behind bars for 13 years. If I could do it all over again, I would try to pursue a different path in life. As a 19-year-old kid, I made some really bad decisions that snowballed into a series of other really bad decisions that I regret. I'm 73 years old now. I still love Lamborghinis. But my life has taken me in a whole new direction. I've been speaking at high schools and colleges. And for the past few months I've been working on producing a podcast about my life called 'Cocaine Air.' Because I want to share my story with the world, especially with young people, about how one bad decision can lead to 1,000 more and send you in unimaginable directions. But I truly believe there's no mess that can't be cleaned up. And that's how I plan to spend the rest of my time on this Earth. Trying to do good, trying to have a positive impact on the world and using my story to teach young people how not to make the same mistakes that I did.
