More Woes For Hushpuppi As Court Uncovers Fresh $400,000 Fraud Committed Behind Bars
More Woes For Hushpuppi As Court Uncovers Fresh $400,000 Fraud Committed Behind Bars
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US prosecutors have submitted fresh court documents showing how popular Instagram celebrity Hushpuppi committed fraud and laundered over $400,000 from behind bars.
The documents were presented before the United States District Court of California on Wed 16th March 2022 by US prosecutors indicting Hushpuppi of committing fraud and money laundering in U.S Federal correctional facility.
The court documents stated that Hushpuppi, while in U.S Federal correctional facility, participated in the purchase and laundering of Economic Impact Payment debit cards fraudulently obtained from stolen data of U.S citizens and residents.
Economic Impact Payments are financial support offered by the US government to U.S residents, according to the CARES Act. One of the ways eligible US residents receives their Economic Impact Payments is by debit cards. From the documents presented in court, it was found that hackers use data of U.S residents to file and obtain Economic Impact Payments debit cards. They sell off these EIP cards in underground marketplaces to other cyber criminals.
Kemi Filani News reports that in the court document shared, US prosecutors mentioned that inmates are allowed access to phone calls, video calls, the internet, and computers with limited usage but they are not monitored because inmates have right to their privacy. Hushpuppi also received this access like other inmates.
However, between 28th Jan and 4th Mar, 2022, security officers at the US Federal correctional facility, observed more usage of the internet by Hushpuppi. Knowing that Hushpuppi was arrested for internet related crimes, they obtained a warrant to record Hushpuppi activities. A dedicated system was setup for him and his activities were recorded for 7 days.
It was found that Hushpuppi was actively buying EIP debit cards from an underground cyber criminal marketplace called StimulusCard.
While being recorded, Hushpuppi bought a total of 58 EIP debit cards with a total value of $429,800 on the site and laundered the money through one AJ.