WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) A US court sentenced a citizen of the Dominican Republic to more than five years in prison in a global scheme that routed calls to Cuba, Jamaica and other nations through mobile telephones that were cloned using stolen data, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday.
"Edgar Estarlin Peralta Lopez, 42, pleaded guilty earlier to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access device fraud, the use, production or possession of modified telecommunications instruments and the use or possession of hardware or software configured to obtain telecommunications services; one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft," the release said.
The 65-month sentence from US District Judge Beth Bloom of the state of Florida marked the sixth and final defendant to be sentenced in the case, with prison terms ranging from 36 months to 75 months, the release said.
Lopez would contract with telecommunication companies to transmit international calls and then route those calls through cellphones reprogrammed with stolen or compromised data, the release said.
Lopez then sent thousands of calls� to Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and other countries with high calling rates, the release added.
The calls would be billed to US customers with compromised accounts, according to the release. Lopez admitted the scheme cost telephone companies at least $315,800.
