SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Division of Consumer Protection has brought action against a Utah man accused of stealing millions of dollars from people and using the funds to buy cryptocurrency.
According to court documents, Parker Wilde for years would offer consumers the chance to pay him to set up automated Amazon stores. Those stores in theory would then generate revenue for the victims.
Investigators say that the victims would pay Wilde an upfront "consulting fee" between $5,000 and $20,000 as well as an inventory cost fee that ranged between $7,000 and $10,000. The victims were also told, according to detectives, that they could get their money back if the store wasn't profitable within 12 months.
The Utah Division of Consumer Protection says that Wilde ran the scheme from December 2020 to at least July 2023 and had at least 216 victims enter into contracts with him. Investigators say that during that time, Wilde received at least $9.2 million in payments and didn't set up a single profitable Amazon store.
Victims also reported to detectives that Wilde had allegedly used their credit cards while not authorized to do so.
The Division says that Wilde would instead use the money to purchase crypto assets for himself and pay off his credit cards.
In court documents, investigators stated that so far 18 Utahns have already sued Wilde to recover money spent on the alleged business scheme. One victim was able to obtain a judgment for $395,000 and another was able to receive $142,744.
Wilde is accused of running the alleged scheme under several different business names over the years. The names of the businesses include ZIGI LLC, FBA 3.0 Unfair Advantage, PJW Profit Ventures LLC, Private Label Accelerator, and Passive Ecom Ventures.
