OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A Kissimmee man has been indicted on federal charges after prosecutors said he used stolen identities as part of a scheme to rip off the ride-sharing company Uber.
Court documents filed in October show prosecutors said Jesus Alejandro Millan Gomez used stolen identities to create fake driver and customer accounts on the Uber app.
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With those accounts, Millan Gomez would request a short ride and secure it using a low-value Uber gift card, records show.
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Prosecutors said that once the ride was secured, Millan Gomez would then change his destination to a location much further away, which would increase the cost, even though the card used to secure the ride did not have the funds to pay for it.
Uber would then honor the new increased cost and give the payment to the fake driver account, according to investigators.
Records show Uber paid the fake accounts hundreds of thousands of dollars, which would go into one of five bank accounts controlled by Millan Gomez.
Prosecutors said the fraudulent rides took place between 2018 and 2019, during which time he created driver accounts using the personal information of five different people.
Millan Gomez now faces five counts of interstate wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
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