A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to nearly five years behind bars after pleading guilty to a decade-long fraud and account takeover scheme that netted him over $1m.
Jason Mickel Elcock, aka “Prezzi,” pleaded guilty in March to a series of wire fraud and money laundering charges, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.
Between 2008 and last year, Elcock and co-conspirator Shoshana Marie McGill bought stolen financial and identity data on tens of thousands of businesses and individuals, according to the Department of Justice.
They also obtained this material by hacking victims’ email accounts, bank accounts and password vaults.
The duo then monetized the stolen data by: buying goods online with victims’ card data, which they resold, opening new lines of credit in other people’s names, transferring money out of victim bank accounts, creating and cashing fraudulent checks in victims’ names and selling the data and check-making kit to other fraudsters in return for a cut of their earnings.
Elcock is also said to have deleted activity alerts and changed email account passwords to prevent victims receiving automated alerts about unauthorized transactions. He’s also said to have transferred victims’ phone numbers to ones under his control.
The decade-long scheme netted him and McGill $1.1m. Also seized from their flat were Rolex watches, laptops, tablets and smartphones, designer clothes, shoes and handbags, and other items.
In addition to his 57-month prison term, Elcock will get three years of supervised release, and has to pay back the $1.1m and restitution. McGill pleaded guilty on January 3 to conspiring to commit money laundering and was sentenced in June to five years’ probation.
“As criminals move to the digital frontier, law enforcement is following,” said NYPD commissioner, James O’Neill. “In this case, the NYPD is proud to have teamed with its FBI partners to bring this insidious criminal scheme to a close.”