The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) introduced in past due February that a global arranged crime crew primarily based in New York had unknowingly gained hundreds of driving force’s licenses from the state months prior. This crew focused Texans of Asian descent, affecting a minimum of 5,000 Texans as reported through The Dallas Morning News.
After months of operating at the case with federal businesses, the DPS introduced its first arrest on April 21, 2023. The rip-off was once way more sweeping than first of all reported, extending throughout more than one states and making six-figure ripoffs.
An Allen resident named Ping Du was once additionally a sufferer of the rip-off, as reported in The Dallas Morning News in February. He was once knowledgeable whilst on holiday that any individual had attempted to replace his non-public information through impersonating him with a bodily driving force’s license. He controlled to freeze his checking account ahead of the scammer may withdraw any cash, however folks weren’t as lucky.
The fraudulent driving force’s licenses have been used to withdraw cash from financial institution accounts, acquire luxurious automobiles, and open credit playing cards on the expense of hundreds of sufferers.
Tony Cao Li, 33, was once arrested on April 12 in Flushing, N.Y. This was once one of the crucial places the place huge batches of Texas-issued licenses have been despatched to. Li was once extradited from New York on Friday and is dealing with a number of fees for breach of pc safety and fraudulent use or ownership of figuring out information.
Driver’s licenses have been despatched to a handful of addresses in New York and Atlanta, in addition to a marijuana farm in Oklahoma, and the DPS was once handiest ready to get well a portion of the fraudulent driving force’s licenses which have been doping up around the nation. The largest batch recovered have been 600 licenses discovered through native police in Smyrna, Tenn. in a lodge room, as reported through The Dallas Morning News.
More arrests are anticipated, consistent with DPS officers, even if no names were launched because of the continued investigation.