Washington fraudster sentenced to prison.
Washington resident Jennifer Suazo has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for using stolen personal information obtained on the darknet to commit bank fraud.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, from at least October 2019 through April 2022, Jennifer Suazo, 49, engaged in fraud that defrauded financial institutions and individuals of about $107,472. A seven-count indictment filed Aug. 10, 2022, charged Suazo with bank fraud and identity theft. To carry out the plan, Suazo acquired his victims’ personal information from unknown dark websites. He recorded the stolen information in notebooks he found on him.
Suazo created fake identities with his photo and information about his victims. He then opened bank accounts and obtained credit cards in the victims’ names. He also took possession of his victims’ existing bank accounts and credit card accounts and changed contact information to phone numbers and addresses that he controlled. To obtain funds, Suazo wrote checks in his victims’ names and deposited them into their accounts and made transfers from the victims’ accounts to his and his associates’ accounts. He also made purchases and ATM withdrawals from cards in the names of his victims.
Suazo was arrested Aug. 14 and taken into custody. A search of his home turned up notebooks containing personal information about 316 of his victims. He pleaded guilty on January 20, 2023. On April 19, 2023, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin sentenced Suazo to two years and six months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
