Conman who used Pablo Escobar’s name and half-naked models to sell fake gold phones & flamethrowers jailed for 4 years

A CONMAN who used Pablo Escobar’s name to sell non-existent gold phones and flamethrowers to fans of the infamous drug lord has been jailed. Head of Escobar Inc, Olof Kyros Gustafsson, 32, used half-naked models to market products he claimed were linked to the cartel kingpin. Swedish conman Olof Kyros Gustafsson has been jailed for four years Credit: Instagram The conman used half-naked models to market the fake flamethrowers Credit: Escobar Inc Tacky ads showed scantily-clad women flaunting the branded phones and posing with the “Escobar Flamethrower”. In a bid to drum up public demand Gustafsson sent foil-wrapped Samsung Galaxy flip phones to tech reviewers. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! But some suspicious recipients quickly noticed red flags. YouTuber Marques Brownlee slammed the scam in a video posted in July 2024. An Escobar Inc advert shows a woman unboxing one of the gold mobiles Credit: Escobar Inc Gustafsson claimed the products were linked to the infamous cartel kingpin Credit: YouTube “Those people were getting scammed out of their money,” he said. “Honestly, in hindsight, I don’t know how they thought they were gonna get away with this.” Brownlee said the FBI turned up and asked him for the phone and any communication he had with the company. Officials said the products, outside of the promotional spots, never existed. Most read in The Sun Gustafsson had used a copy of Elon Musk’s “Not a Flamethrower” products and the duped mobiles for advertising. Keen fans looking for a piece of Escobar’s legacy paid via PayPal, Stripe, Coinbase, and direct wire transfers, but the items never arrived. Meanwhile conman Gustafsson raked in a $1.3million fortune. When paying customers demanded refunds, the fraudster mailed them promotional books. Keen fans looking for a piece of Escobar’s legacy lapped up the scam Credit: Getty Meanwhile Gustafsson raked in a $1.3million fortune Credit: Expressen.se He then showed the proof of those mailings to payment processors to falsely claim the orders had been completed. Proceeds were laundered across international funnel accounts in the United States, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. Gustafsson was sentenced to four years in jail at a Los Angeles court on Friday. He was also ordered to give back the $1.3million proceeds of his fraud schemes and fined an additional $25,000. Spain extradited Gustafsson in 2023 back to the US, and he has been in federal custody since March 2025. He previously pleaded guilty in July 2025 to a myriad of fraud and money-laundering charges. Comment now