Former Fall River man gets 32 months in prison for nationwide identity theft fraud scheme
A former Fall River man was sentenced Tuesday to 32 months in federal prison for his role in a nationwide scheme of selling fake rideshare and delivery service accounts, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Rhode Island announced.
Caio Felipe Oliveira Dos Santos, 27, is among more than a dozen Brazilian nationals from Massachusetts, California and Florida charged in this case.
Dos Santos pleaded guilty this past October to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in federal court in Boston on Tuesday and faces 32 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, from January 2019 until April 2021, Dos Santos and others conspired to use stolen identities and falsified documents to open fraudulent driver accounts or rent or sell those accounts to drivers who might not otherwise qualify to drive for rideshare or delivery services.
Co-conspirators exploited the rideshare and delivery companies' referral bonus programs, and used “bots” and GPS “spoofing” technology to increase the income earned from the companies, the agency states. As a result, Internal Revenue Service Forms 1099 were generated in victims’ names for income co-conspirators earned from the rideshare and delivery companies.
They also used victims’ identifiers to apply for driver accounts, which allowed Dos Santos and his co-conspirators to pass required background checks and create driver accounts in victims’ names.
At times, co-conspirators edited victims’ driver’s license images to display photos of the drivers renting or buying the fake accounts in order to circumvent facial recognition technology that the rideshare and delivery companies used as a security measure, according to officials.
They obtained victims’ names, dates of birth, driver’s license information, and Social Security numbers from co-conspirators and other sources, including sites on the Dark Net. They also obtained driver’s license images directly from victims, by photographing victims’ licenses while completing an alcohol delivery through one of the services, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The government estimates that more than 2,000 victims’ identities were stolen and used as part of the scheme.
Eighteen co-conspirators were indicted in connection with the scheme in May 2021. Fifteen of those defendants have been arrested, and three still remain at large. Fourteen of those arrested have been convicted and sentenced.
Zachary Cunha, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, was assigned to oversee this matter by the Department of Justice upon recusal of the U.S Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking anyone who believes they may be a victim in this case to visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/us-v-wemerson-dutra-aguiar-and-us-v-priscila-barbosa-et-al.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Former Fall River man sentenced in nationwide identity theft fraud conspiracy