From FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth · Tracy DeLatte · · 1m 20s
Fake IDs, real JCPenney credit
Three North Texas women worked store registers across the country with stolen identities, and two are now headed to federal prison.
In brief
Three North Texas women worked store registers across the country with stolen identities, and two are now headed to federal prison. A store card account can be opened at the register with nothing but a fake ID and someone else's personal details, which is why the fraud scaled across states. Originally reported by FOX…
Three women, one scheme
Cabria Cunningham, 27, of Rowlett, Mykiah Furlough, 27, of Dallas, and Ashley Urune, 34, of Dallas ran an identity theft operation built around JCPenney credit cards.
They shopped as someone else
Prosecutors say the trio traveled to JCPenney stores around the country and posed as legitimate customers who already held store credit cards.
“posed as legitimate customers who had JCPenney credit cards”
The register was the weak point
Fraudulent IDs plus victims' personal information were enough to unlock those accounts at the checkout counter, no card required.
Gift cards became cash
They charged merchandise and gift cards to the hijacked accounts, then resold the haul on social media to turn stolen credit into money.
Two years each
Cunningham and Furlough pleaded guilty and were sentenced to two years in federal prison, followed by probation and restitution paid back to their victims.
One sentencing left
Urune pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. She will be sentenced in December.
The key point
A store card account can be opened at the register with nothing but a fake ID and someone else's personal details, which is why the fraud scaled across states.
