INDIANAPOLIS — A Carmel man has been sentenced to eight and a half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to an international identity theft scheme.
Tuong Quoc Ho, also known as Robert Parker, 36, pleaded guilty to 20 counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, possession of multiple unauthorized access devices, unlawful possession of identification and two counts of money laundering after being indicted in February 2020.
Court documents revealed that Ho led an international fraud scheme from 2013 to February 2020. He defrauded multiple victims across the world of approximately $2 million.
In order to carry out the worldwide scheme, Ho and co-conspirators used personally identifiable information to create fraudulent PayPal and eBay accounts using their victims' names.
Ho then created false eBay listings for expensive items such as Vera Bradley handbags, PlayStation consoles, American Girl dolls and blood pressure monitoring devices. Ho did not have the items at the time the listings were posted. Instead, he used stolen credit cards to "drop ship" the purchased item to the customer. Many of the items sold by Ho and his co-conspirators were sold for below market value, but still generated a profit due to the use of stolen credit cards.
To collect the money, Ho linked his personal bank account information to the fake eBay and PayPal accounts.
Occasionally, PayPal would suspect suspicious activity on Ho's account. In order to provide the documents requested, Ho would use modified personal information from his identity theft victims to create false documents to make them appear to belong to the account holder.
In total, Ho stole over $2 million, wired $1.2 million to his family in Vietnam and laundered money to purchase his home in Carmel for more than $300,000.
The FBI and Carmel police investigated and cracked the case.
“Over seven years, the Defendant stole hundreds of identities and millions of dollars, exploiting eCommerce and financial platforms in a complex international scheme,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Making the public safer from these pernicious identity theft schemes is a critical priority for our office, in partnership with outstanding investigators like the FBI and Carmel Police Department. The serious federal prison sentence imposed today should serve as a warning to fraudsters that we are dedicated to finding you and holding you accountable for the harm you cause.”
Following his release from prison, Ho will serve three years probation and pay $217,147 in restitution to his victims.