Note to Self: When Plotting Fraud, Don't Make To-Do List

Man busted with list of tasks including buying phones and credit card info on dark web
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 31, 2017 1:21 AM CDT
Detectives Nab Suspect With Fraud-Filled 'To-Do' List
Photo of list from the criminal complaint against Phyllistone Termine.   (Criminal complaint against Phyllistone Termine)

Detectives investigating fraud in Florida hit the jackpot when they executed a search warrant on a suspect's home: he was writing a fraudulent "to-do" list. The Miami Herald reports that 19-year-old Phyllistone Termine was sentenced last week to four and a half years in federal prison for aggravated identity theft and access device fraud after investigators found the list among other evidence. Prosecutors say Termine admitted to collecting names and Social Security numbers and submitting fraudulent unemployment benefit claims.

Per the AP, when investigators traced the false claims to Internet Provider addresses from Termine's North Miami-Dade home, they executed a search warrant. Termine was in his bedroom writing a list on a legal pad that included "buy 3 phones, 1 clean 2 dirty's" and reminders to buy credit card information from the "dark web." (More fraud stories.)

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