In an audacious scam, a crafty Massachusetts man named Thiago De Souza Prado, 39, was handed a federal conviction on Tuesday for swindling rideshare companies with bogus driver accounts by using stolen identities.
Prado secured a treasure trove of Massachusetts driver's licenses and social security numbers from the darkweb in 2019, using this stash to bypass criminal background checks, sex offender registry scrutiny, and driving record assessments by both the rideshare operators and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
With his stolen credentials, he then rented out these active driver accounts to those who also couldn't clear the background checks, typically because they lacked social security numbers or were in the U.S. illegally. Prado further referred his own bogus driver accounts as 'new drivers,' earning himself bonuses from none the wiser ride-hailers.
Prado and his band of fraudsters accessed an app they called 'the drone' — a tool that created imaginary rides and fabricated ride lengths, falsely boosting their accounts with earnings for phantom or lengthier rides than were actually done.
Prado and his colleagues squirrel away their ill-gotten gain in bank accounts opened in the names of their identity theft victims.
Co-conspirator Flavio Da Silva was sentenced on Oct 10, 2023. Another, Wemerson Dutra Aguiar, has already been slapped with a 45-month sentence after pleading guilty. Luiz Neto dodged his sentencing by fleeing the country.
The charges, which include wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, account for a maximum sentance of 20 years behind bars, three years of probation, and fines of up to $500,000, depending on the financial damage incurred.
