Washington Fraudster Sentenced to Prison

A Washington woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison for using stolen personally identifiable information purchased on the dark web to commit bank fraud.

Jennifer Suazo

According to a press release by the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, from at least October 2019 to April 2022, 49-year-old Jennifer Suazo led a fraud scheme that defrauded financial institutions and individuals approximately $107,472.
Suazo was charged with bank fraud and identity theft in a seven-count indictment filed on August 10, 2022. To execute the scheme, Suazo purchased the personally identifiable information of her victims from undisclosed dark web sites. She kept records of the stolen information in notebooks found in her possession.
Suazo created fake identification documents bearing her image and the details of her victims. She would then open bank accounts and obtain credit cards in the victims' names. She also took over the existing bank and credit card accounts that belonged to her victims and changed the contact information to phone numbers and addresses she controlled.
To acquire the funds, Suazo issued checks in her victims' names and deposited them into her accounts, and made transfers from the victim's accounts to her accounts and those of her accomplices. She also made purchases and withdrawals from ATMs with cards under her victims' names.
Suazo was arrested on August 14 and placed in pretrial detention. A search of her home resulted in the discovery of notebooks with records of personally identifiable information belonging to 316 of her victims. She pleaded guilty on January 20, 2023.
On April 19, 2023, US District Judge Tana Lin sentenced Suazo to two years and six months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.