Seeking Victim Information in Identity Theft/Account Takeover Fraud Questionnaire

In the summer of 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a coordinated investigation from the FBI Tucson Resident Agency Office into a ring of actors conducting a complex identity theft and account takeover fraud scam.

Defining characteristics of this scheme are as follows:

• Victim’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is stolen, to include name, date of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, passport numbers, etc.
• Victim’s financial institution account information is stolen, to include bank account numbers, account balance, personal checking account, savings accounts, etc.
• The ring of actors exploits several homeless individuals and forces them to act as couriers for the ring.
• The ring leaders create fake IDs bearing the photo of the selected courier and stolen PII from a victim.
• A fake LLC is created utilizing the stolen victim’s PII and financial bank account information that is provided to the courier.
• The courier is able to obtain a business checking account by providing the fake LLC and the stolen victim’s PII information to the financial institution (such as Bank of America, US Bank, or JP Morgan Chase) by confirming/answering all the normal account opening verifications questions.
• The business checking account is established and linked to the now compromised victim’s personal checking and savings accounts.
• Transfers are conducted online and in person at the financial institution between the stolen victim’s personal accounts to the new fake business checking account.
• The ring directs the couriers to take a debit card issued for the fake business account to various financial institution ATM locations and casino locations on Native/Tribal Reservation lands and withdraw all the transferred/stolen victim funds out of the business account in cash.

Victims have lost on average $80,000 in a day once the ring commences draining the business account via cash withdrawals. This ring has targeted over 60 victims that have been identified in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, California, New York, Nevada, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Oregon. The investigation is ongoing and the FBI is seeking victims’ assistance with identifying all losses associated to this case. Please fill out this short form to assist the FBI in identifying all losses associated to this case.

The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes it investigates. Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and rights under federal and/or state law. Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information. All identities of victims will be kept confidential.