{"id":45456,"date":"2021-09-16T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T22:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456"},"modified":"2021-09-16T15:10:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T22:10:54","slug":"fraudster-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-for-long-running-phone-unlocking-scheme-duped-att-for-200-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456","title":{"rendered":"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for his leadership role in a seven-year scheme to unlawfully unlock nearly 2 million phones to defraud AT&T Inc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd caused more than $200 million in losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik for the Western District of Washington noted that Fahd had committed a \u201cterrible cybercrime over an extended period,\u201d even after he was aware that law enforcement was investigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FBI<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in 2012, Fahd, 35, conspired with others to recruit AT&T employees at a call center located in Bothell, Washington, to unlock large numbers of cellular phones for profit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd recruited and bribed AT&T employees to use their AT&T credentials to unlock phones for ineligible customers. Later in the conspiracy, Fahd had the bribed employees install custom malware and hacking tools that allowed him to unlock phones remotely from Pakistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2020, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd was indicted in 2017 and arrested in Hong Kong in 2018. He was extradited and appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle in August 2019. He plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in September 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cellular phones such as iPhones cost hundreds of dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make the phones more affordable, AT&T subsidized the purchase cost of phones or sold phones to customers under installment plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlocking a phone effectively removes it from AT&T\u2019s network, thereby allowing the account holder to avoid having to pay AT&T for service or to make any payments for the purchase of the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to court records, in June or July of 2012, using the alias \u201cFrank Zhang,\u201d Fahd contacted an AT&T employee through Facebook. Fahd offered the employee significant sums of money if the employee would help Fahd secretly unlock phones at AT&T. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd also asked the employee to recruit other AT&T employees to help with the unauthorized unlocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd instructed the recruited employees to set up fake businesses and bank accounts for those businesses, to receive payments, and to create fictitious invoices for every deposit made into the fake businesses\u2019 bank accounts to create the appearance that the money was payment for genuine services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring of 2013, AT&T implemented a new unlocking system that made it more difficult for the bribed employees to unlock IMEIs for Fahd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Fahd hired a software developer to design malware that could be installed without authorization on AT&T\u2019s computer system to unlock phones more efficiently and in larger numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Fahd\u2019s request, the employees provided confidential information to Fahd about AT&T\u2019s computer system and unlocking procedures to assist in this process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd also had the employees install malware on AT&T\u2019s computers that captured information about AT&T\u2019s computer system and the network access credentials of other AT&T employees. Fahd provided the information to his malware developer, so the developer could tailor the malware to work on AT&T\u2019s computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AT&T\u2019s forensic analysis shows the total number of cellular telephones fraudulently unlocked by members of the scheme was 1,900,033 phones. AT&T has further determined that the loss it suffered because customers, whose cellular phones were illegally unlocked, failed to complete payments for their cellular telephones was $201,497,430.94, according to officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judge Lasnik ordered restitution of $200,620,698.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The difference between this amount and the total loss reflects restitution ordered against bribed AT&T employees in related prosecutions.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for his leadership role in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts-cases"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456\"},\"wordCount\":628,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Att-Logo.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts & Cases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456\",\"name\":\"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Att-Logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=45456#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Att-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Att-Logo.png\",\"width\":631,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million","description":"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million","og_description":"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":631,"height":333,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million","datePublished":"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456"},"wordCount":628,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png","articleSection":["Courts & Cases"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456","name":"Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Long-Running Phone Unlocking Scheme, Duped AT&T Out of $200 Million","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png","datePublished":"2021-09-16T22:07:07+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-16T22:10:54+00:00","description":"Overall Loss to AT&T Estimated at more than $200 Million Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=45456#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Att-Logo.png","width":631,"height":333},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45456"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45486,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45456\/revisions\/45486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}