The scammer used fraudulent emails to make the company’s workers log in with their credentials and thus gain access to unlock the cell phones.
A US jury found a man guilty of 14 crimes for designing a 25 million dollar enrichment scheme by stealing the credentials of T-Mobile employees and accessing illegally to the company’s internal systems to unlock cell phones, announced the country’s Department of Justice North American this Monday.
According to the verdict, from August 2014 to June 2019, Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, fraudulently unlocked mobile phones from the T-Mobile company, as well as the networks of Sprint, AT&T and other carriers. It also promoted its unlocking services through brokers, email solicitations, and websites such as unlocks247.com, falsely claiming that it was an official service.
In 2017, Khudaverdyan and a former business partner co-owned Top Tier Solutions Inc., a T-Mobile retail store. However, he did not work for a long time with the company, since months later the company canceled the contract due to suspicious behavior.
The man used fraudulent emails to make the T-Mobile employees log in with their credentials and thus obtain information about them and have access to unlocking the phones, thus allowing the sale of the devices on the black market.
In total, Khudaverdyan and other accomplices who collaborated with him compromised and stole the credentials of more than 50 employees of T -Mobile in the United States. With the money obtained, the scammer bought properties in the Californian cities of Burbank and Northridge.
The sentencing is scheduled for October 17, when Khudaverdian will face:
- At least 2 years in prison for aggravated identity theft;
- Statutory maximum sentences of 20 years in federal prison for each count of wire fraud;
- 20 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering;
- 10 years for each count of money laundering;
- 5 years for each count of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to obtain information;
- 5 years for each count of accessing a computer to defraud and profit.
While Meanwhile, his partner, Alen Gharehbagloo, 43, pleaded guilty on July 5 to three felony counts and will be sentenced on December 5.
