PROVIDENCE, R.I.–A man who was at the center of a multi-state fraud ring led to losses of more than $1.3-million in total at credit unions, banks, finance companies and auto dealerships has been sentenced to prison.
Octavio Andres Difo-Castro, 30, of New York City, was sentenced in federal court in Providence to more than seven years, according to the Rhode Island U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After Difo-Castro completes his prison term, he will be on probation for three years and was ordered to pay $649,180 in restitution, the Attorney’s Office added.
According to court documents, soon after arriving in the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2016, Difo-Castro purchased stolen identification information of unsuspecting victims from the dark web.
He used the information to create high-quality drivers’ licenses and other documents he provided to individuals who worked at his direction to execute schemes that defrauded financial institutions and retailers, prosecutors said.
Six other co-defendants were also arrested, including Jason McDonald, 38, who was earlier sentenced for his involvement to 39 months in prison and was ordered to pay almost $30,000 in restitution.
How Schemes Worked
The U.S. Attorney said Difo-Castro’s schemes included using the stolen identities and fraudulent documents to open credit union/bank accounts that were used to deposit and withdraw fraudulently obtained funds.
Another scheme was posing as both the seller and the buyer of vehicles in order to fraudulently secure financing from financial institutions in several states, the U.S. Attorney added. The stolen information was also used to obtain retail store credit and to make purchases at clothing and cellphone retailers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
According to court documents, banks and credit unions were defrauded of almost $900,000, cellphone retailers of $117,000 and clothing retailers of $14,000.