The sales script went something like this, federal prosecutors say: The price of printer toner has gone up, but customers can lock in at the lower rate they’ve been paying for the office supply.

But by the time tens of thousands of small businesses, charities and other organizations that signed orders for toner — the indispensable yet notoriously expensive fine powder used by laser printers and photocopy machines — saw the fine print, it was too late.

They had been conned out of a total of $126 million over six years, the Justice Department said, noting that the scheme had actually gone on for decades.

On Friday, the man who prosecutors say was the mastermind of that fraud scheme was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Orange County, Calif., to four years in federal prison, followed by two years of home confinement. In the scheme, telemarketers misrepresented that they were affiliated with actual suppliers of printer toner and forced the victims to pay for supplies they didn’t need. read the rest here