GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Three men from Miami, Florida have been sentenced for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. They are Cedric Smith, Daja Smith, and Devonte Hoskins.
According to the Department of Justice, the three targeted a customer’s online account using compromised personal information they purchased from computer hackers. They then called the customers, pretending to be bank security personnel. The victims would share a onetime code that a bank sends its customers when they are resetting their password. The three would then drain the victim’s account of money and moved it to where they could use it themselves.
The trio operated out of Miami, Florida, and targeted victims around the United States. One of the banks whose customers they targeted was United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Michigan. It is estimated that there is $1.4 million in total losses.
The three were charged in February 2021. Daja Smith was sentenced to five years in prison. Devonte Hoskins was sentenced to six years in prison. Cedric Smith was sentenced to 70 months.
“These defendants may have thought they were beyond the reach of law enforcement because their crimes were committed entirely online,” said James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “They were sorely mistaken. The FBI treats these types of financial crimes very seriously and we will use our considerable resources to bring cybercriminals to justice.”
“Online thieves like these think they will never be caught because they can hide on the internet,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “They are wrong. We have the tools to identify and hunt them down, even if they committed their crimes from hundreds of miles away. And that is what we will do.”
