PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Malan Doumbia, 38, and Souleymane Diarra, 36, both of Philadelphia, PA, were convicted after trial of nine counts including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in connection with a scheme to purchase stolen credit card numbers from the dark web, use the accounts to purchase consumer products, and then re-sell the products for cash.
As part of the scheme, the defendants worked with several associates to purchase large quantities of stolen credit card numbers off black market websites located in Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere overseas. They then encoded the stolen card numbers onto blank cards here in Philadelphia, and employed a network of runners who used the stolen credit card numbers to buy large quantities of gift cards and other items which could be quickly resold for cash, like Apple products, cigarettes, and diapers. When the United States Secret Service searched the defendants’ homes, agents found numerous computers, tablets, cell phones, re-encoding machines, card readers, and more than 200,000 stolen credit card numbers.
“Identity theft and financial fraud schemes like this one have a devastating and long-lasting impact on the victims, who have no way to prevent or stop the violations” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “ Our Office will continue to do everything we can to ensure that such fraud scams are stopped and punished, whether the fraudsters are located here or abroad.”
“So long as criminals insist on stealing identities and livelihoods, so will the Secret Service continue to identify and stop their despicable operations,” said U.S. Secret Service Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge James Henry. “Our highly trained investigators are uniquely trained and steadfastly dedicated to our mission to ensure a secure national financial environment. The Secret Service, together with all of our critical law enforcement partners at all levels, can and will ensure these criminals are brought forward for justice, no matter the dark corner of the internet in which these offenders think they can hide.”
“The defendants in this case stole money and personally identifiable information from unsuspecting victims, then went to extraordinary lengths to hide their illicit activities from law enforcement scrutiny,” said William S. Walker, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Philadelphia. “As a result of this investigation, they will now be held accountable for their reprehensible crimes. HSI is pleased to have worked with our partners in federal and local law enforcement to bring the offenders in this case to justice.”
The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Swatara Township Police Department, the Lower Salford Township Police Department, the Haverford Township Police Department, the Montgomery Township Police Department, the Deptford Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Livermore.