They took Uber and Lyft for a ride.
A group of 19 alleged scam artists have been accused of running a nationwide scheme in which they stole thousands of identities to create fraudulent rideshare and food delivery drivers’ accounts, which were then leased to people who hadn’t passed any driver background checks.
Last week, one member of the group, Flavio Candido da Silva, 36, of Malden, Mass., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Da Silva was accused of collecting over $200,000 on his own in the scheme.
He faces a maximum of 22 years in prison when he is sentenced in April. His attorney had no comment.
“In all, prosecutors say the group stole the identities of more than 2,000 people.”
Federal prosecutors say the scam, which ran from at least 2019 until April of this year, relied upon procuring stolen identities. Some were allegedly acquired from the dark web, but many were stolen from customers the group encountered while doing deliveries for the companies they were scamming.
For example, when delivering alcohol, the defendants allegedly would ask for the recipient’s ID to verify their age, and then take a picture of it. They would then use photo editing programs to insert someone’s else’s picture into the ID, which would be used to create a new, fake driver account on a rideshare or food delivery service, prosecutors said.
In other instances, the group allegedly collected victims’ information after getting into a car accident with them, sometimes intentionally, prosecutors said.
The IDs were then leased for a few hundred dollars to drivers who were unable to pass the company’s background checks, either because they had criminal backgrounds or lacked documentation.
In a statement, Lyft LYFT said it was always working on strengthening its security features to detect these kinds of frauds.
“The safety of the Lyft platform is our top priority and we worked closely with the Department of Justice during their investigation. Lyft has a number of features in place to prevent and detect this type of fraudulent behavior, and we are continually working to strengthen these systems,” the company said
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In all, prosecutors say the group — all of whom are Brazilian nationals — stole the identities of more than 2,000 people.
Federal prosecutors say the group also defrauded rideshare companies that offered driver referral bonuses, by using one phony account to recommend another fraudulent account and collect a $1,000 referral fee each time.
The group also allegedly used computer bots and GPS spoofing technology to make it appear that rides were longer than they actually were, allowing drivers to illegitimately collect higher fees, prosecutors said.
Fifteen of da Silva’s co-defendants are awaiting trial, but three remain at large, prosecutors said.
