http://www.fbi.gov/minneapolis/press-rel...ions-of-dollars"As charged, various members of the Mustafa Family provided stolen or fraudulent identity information to the runners, including names, dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card numbers, passport information, and driver’s license numbers of victims. Some of the runners operated solely within Minnesota, while others travelled to Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Utah to obtain devices. The Organization arranged out-of-state travel for the runners and paid their expenses. One runner was arrested in Utah in 2013 with more than 80 counterfeit identification documents and genuine victim-information documents. This runner used those documents to open lines of credit at various retail outlets to make fraudulent device purchases.
The runners were instructed by the Mustafas to obtain phones by contract-fraud and subscription-fraud schemes. In such schemes, runners used real stolen identities to obtain cell phone contracts. At times, the runners obtained “family plans” or “business accounts.” In so doing, runners were sold phones at deeply discounted prices by the legitimate retailers. The full retail price of an iPhone 5s in the United States is approximately $648. Under a two-year contract, the same phone is sold for approximately $200. Runners then opened accounts entitling them to obtain as few as one discounted phone, and as many as 30. The runners then shipped or delivered the phones back to the Mustafas, via one of the thirteen Twin Cities storefronts, or shipped the phones to wholesalers in other states for sale overseas. A new iPhone 5s retails for between $1,000 and $1,200 overseas.
Other runners engaged in street-level violence or burglary to obtain phones. The Sunrise Group, a burglary ring that traveled throughout the Upper Midwest for the purpose of breaking into WalMart stores to steal cell phones, iPads, and other electronic devices, provided electronic devices to the Mustafa Family on several occasions. The Mustafa Family made requests of the Sunrise Group for large quantities of new phones, and would act as a fence for the stolen merchandise.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Schommer, Chief of the Major Crimes Section; Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Schleicher, Chief of the Special Prosecution Section; and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti are handling the prosecution of this case."
