FLORIDA – A Kissimmee man has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud scheme targeting a rideshare service.
Jesus Alejandro Millan Gomez, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced on Thursday.
Millan Gomez faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud offense and a mandatory consecutive term of two years for the aggravated identity theft offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Millan Gomez used multiple fraudulent rideshare driver accounts that had been created through an online registration process using stolen identities. As a part of the scheme, Millan Gomez caused numerous rider accounts to be established by others outside of Florida, including in Mexico and elsewhere.
Using multiple cell phones simultaneously and a “spoofing” location application to mask or manipulate his location to the rideshare service, Millan Gomez received instructions to pair trips together using cell phones that he controlled.
Once a trip was underway, Millan Gomez reportedly used the location app to deceive the rideshare service into believing that he had driven significantly further than the original destination requested, which increased the fare.
According to court documents, the fraud scheme exploited a then-existing weakness in the rideshare company’s payment system and defrauded the company of $232,994.87 in payments.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Ranganath Manthripragada is prosecuting it.
