In a sting multi-agency operation headed by the Federal Burial of Investigation, a prolific credit card scammer who had siphoned thousands of dollars cash was uncovered. The scammer is reported to have perpetrated his heinous acts while he was behind bars. According to the Fed reports, the suspect is now serving a much lengthier sentence on top of what he was already serving.
According to the documents handed over by the investigators, from 2014 up to 2016, the suspect, together with his conspirators, bought many credit card numbers from renowned Russian Hackers. They also acquired Fullz from Pakistani and Ukraine hackers on a regular basis. The suspect is also reported to be working closely with a restaurant attendant from Syracuse, who forwarded skimmed bank account numbers from customers.
The main suspect was identified as Daquan Rice, 23, who worked hand in hand with other organized cybercriminals to instigate the crimes. After acquiring the Fullz, the suspects then sent the Fullz to another specialist for cloning in New York City.
The New York man would make new credit cards as requested by Rice using a credit card cloning machine. This made it easier for the suspect to carry out his activities with the victims oblivious of the fund siphoning taking place.
The credit cards were used to purchase gift cards that are offered online in order to clean up his cash. It was after that the suspects then converted the gift cards to money orders or even cash.
According to the special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Albany Division, Brandon Mercer, who was directly involved with the investigations, it is very unfortunate that cybercriminals can easily access customers bank details through the dark web. He continued to say that stolen credit card details are sold at very low prices at any encrypted online shop for hackers to buy.
As the investigator came to terms, there was nothing much that the merchants would do to mitigate the fraudulent activities, since the criminals had already matched the names on the fake credit cards with their identification documents. It was a daring move that allowed their criminal activities thrive for such a long time.
According to Mercer, the suspects printed out hundreds of cards in order to make up for the spoilt ones. Since it was a game of numbers, they would register and swipe the credit cards until they found the right one with an available balance. Most of the stolen cards were only used once because the cardholder was notified of the transaction or noticed the fraudulent transaction and took the necessary actions to combat future attacks.
According to the press release made by the investigators, the suspects stole a colossal amount of cash, approximately $80,000, in a period of two years. It is a significant amount of cash stolen from innocent people within that time.
After the suspect was apprehended in 2016 for credit card cloning, the investigators found out that he continued his fraudulent activities from his cell. During the whole of 2017, the suspect was said to make use of an outsider to steal and clone new Fullz, hence increasing the amount of stolen funds to more than $80,000. The stolen funds were deposited in Rice’s prison commissary account and he later attempted to write big checks. However, the prison department was quick to notice the unusual activities on his account and immediately contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations to come in and investigate.
Since he was already in prison, the work for the investigators was easy; they were able to collect the needed information to incriminate him. While in court in October, the suspect pleaded guilty to a number of counts including money laundering, wire fraud, and also aggravated identity theft.
The judge presiding over the case convicted him and the suspect was sentenced to more than eleven years in jail. There are also a number of accomplices who were convicted together with Rice for taking part in fraudulent activities.
According to Mercer, large-scale credit card fraud with many victims was involved; the investigations are very necessary for the bureau due to the sheer capacity of the crime. He urged the public to stay vigilant as cyber-attacks are very frequent, especially during this festive season.
by: Anonymous