Gang member recruited accomplices on Instagram for a multimillion-dollar scheme, prosecutors say

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Set us as preferred He posted an image of himself on Instagram holding a foot-high stack of currency.It was an ad for accomplices, federal prosecutors say, in a race-the-clock fraud scheme that raked in $2.8 million before law enforcement caught up.On Thursday, a member of the South L.A.

Crips street gang was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in the scheme, the Justice Department said.Chase Matthew Griffin, 26, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.He was also ordered to pay $307,386 in restitution, the Justice Department said in a news release.The way the scheme worked, authorities said, was Griffin would use social media to advertise “for holders of various bank accounts to give him access to their accounts.”The defendant and others stole checks from the mail, then altered them or created counterfeit versions so they appeared to be payable to the accomplices whom they’d recruited from social media.Griffin or a co-conspirator would deposit a fraudulent check, usually for “tens of thousands of dollars,” to an accomplice’s account, then race to withdraw the funds before the bank noticed the fraud.In one instance, in December 2023, a North Hollywood business reported that it had sent three checks worth $84,490 to a collection box in Tarzana.

The checks never reached their destination and were deposited into a JPMorgan Chase account not associated with any of the intended recipients, the Justice Department said.A review by law enforcement of a Chase bank account where one of the checks was deposited showed that $22,487 was deposited in Upland.That check and another one for $29,081 were stolen “and used to create counterfeit checks with the same date, check number” and same amount as the original but with different payees, authorities said.Not long after the deposits, the...