Florida Man Pleads Guilty To Cell Phone Fraud Involving $1 Million

Edwin Fana, a resident of Florida, has admitted to a cell phone fraud operation that resulted in $1 million in losses to victims whose telecommunication indentifying data was hacked and stolen to make international calls to countries with high calling rates like Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

The US Department of Justice said Fana and his co-conspirators carried out identity theft of US nationals and used the stolen data to open new cell phone accounts. The phones, controlled by the criminals, were then re-programmed to make international calls which were billed to the victims’ accounts.

As part of Operation Toll Free, the FBI arrested Fana in 2012 and seized from the “call site” at his residence around 88 cell phones with nearly 11,000 telecommunications numbers.

Sentencing would be at a later date.

Read details here.