SANTA ANA >> A suspected $126 million telemarketing scheme led authorities Tuesday morning to arrest 21 people accused of defrauding small businesses and charities by selling them overpriced toner for printers and photocopiers.

Those taken into custody by the federal agents and Huntington Beach police officers were accused in an indictment of targeting more than 50,000 victims by posing as their regular toner-products supplier but upping their prices by as much as 10 times the regular retail price.

Twenty-three were indicted: 21 defendants were arrested this morning, one has agreed to surrender and authorities are searching for one other. Three suspects are Inland Valley residents.

The wide-ranging investigation began in late 2012 with a complaint call to the Huntington Beach Police Department.

A man from Arizona who owned a storage facility had received an invoice for toner, Huntington Beach Police Officer Jennifer Marlatt said. The man was immediately suspicious, Marlatt added, since he still did all his business on typewriters.

An address on the invoice led officers to a Huntington Beach address. Huntington Beach investigators ultimately reached out to federal officials for assistance after realizing the scope of the fraud.

“It just kept getting bigger and bigger,” Marlatt said.

Federal authorities say the alleged scheme dates back to 1988, and was orchestrated by Gilbert “Gil” Michaels, a 73-year-old Los Angeles man who owned and operated IDC SERVCO, which sold toner to a variety of business, government agencies, churches and charities, such as the Easter Seals Disability Services and the United Way.

According to the federal indictment, IDC employees would call up the companies and organizations and tell their workers that they were affiliated with their regular toner supplier but that the price of the products had increased.

The IDC employees would offer the workers the chance to purchase the toner supplies at the “previous, lower price,” prosecutors allege, but would ultimately demand the inflated prices after the products were shipped.

Prosecutors say that if the alleged victims complained, they were told by IDC employees they couldn’t cancel the orders or refund money. If they refused to pay, prosecutors allege, IDC employees threatened to take them to collections or court.

In all, the authorities said, they found $126 million in bogus sales.

“This toner fraud has been a tremendous burden on small businesses across America for many years,” United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement released after Tuesday’s arrests.

About two-dozen alleged victims were listed in the indictment, including a half dozen from California. They include a country club in Orange County, a marketing agency in the Bay Area and union in the Inland Empire.

A call for comment to the Culver City headquarters of IDC SERVCO was not immediately returned.

Among those named in the indictment:

• Tammi L. Williams, 41, of Chino Hills, who was the office manager at Elite Office Supplies Inc. and also worked at Specialty Business Center, Rancho Office Supply and Select Imaging Supplies. Elite Office Supplies has been suspended by the California Secretary of State.

• Cynda L. Hill, 43, and Henry L. Hill II, 44, of Rancho Cucamonga. The husband and wife owned or controlled Distribution Service Center Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga — which has been suspended by the Franchise Tax Board – and C&H Management.

All 23 defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Each of the 23 is charged in at least one of the two dozen mail fraud counts alleged in the indictment. Michaels is additionally charged with five counts of money laundering.

Authorities say Michaels had previously been warned by “federal and start court judges to cease fraudulent and deceptive business practices related to toner sales.”