Hooper not only orchestrated the scheme but directed other participants to sell the stolen personally identifiable information (PII) to anonymous buyers on the dark web, receiving Bitcoin valued at $160,000 in return.
As part of the operation, one member of the group created counterfeit driver’s licenses and attempted to access a victim’s bank account using the stolen PII.
Prosecutors revealed that Hooper, residing in California and Japan, falsely claimed to be conducting Navy background checks as he opened an account with a company that maintained a vast PII database. Subsequently, he added Chalk to the account, enabling her access to the same PII. Hooper’s account was closed in December 2018 due to fraud suspicions. To circumvent this, he and his wife recruited an unindicted individual to open a new account under the same fraudulent guise Hooper had used previously.
When asked to provide additional paperwork from a superior to validate the need for the account, Hooper submitted counterfeit documents using a victim’s identity to impersonate a Navy officer. However, prosecutors pointed out that even after the submission of these fraudulent signatures, the second account was never approved.
