Tampa, Florida - U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore has sentenced Nicholas Whitetto (39, Quincy) to 42 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit access device fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment of $65,000, the proceeds of the credit card fraud.
Whitetto pleaded guilty on Jan. 11, 2019.
According to court documents, Whitetto and others devised a scheme wherein they called a credit card company (referred to in court documents as the Banking Institution) and provided the personal identifying information of actual credit card account holders. Whitetto or another coconspirator then requested to be added as an authorized user on the credit card accounts and directed that the new authorized user’s credit cards be mailed to addresses controlled by the conspirators. The conspirators utilized this plan to fraudulently obtain at least 50 unauthorized credit cards.
Once they received the fraudulently-obtained credit cards in the mail, the conspirators went to various banks and made cash advance withdrawals. The conspirators also used the fraudulently-obtained cards to make unauthorized purchases. The Banking Institution suffered a loss exceeding $100,000.
On Jan. 11, 2019, co-conspirator Frank Tillman pleaded guilty to his role in the scam. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 8, 2019.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel K. Jones.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
