BOSTON — Two Brazilian nationals who live in Revere and Saugus pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to participating in a nationwide conspiracy to open fraudulent driver accounts with rideshare and delivery-service companies, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Guilherme da Silveira, 29, of Revere, and Priscila Barbosa, 35, of Saugus, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Barbosa also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft.
In May 2021, Barbosa and da Silveira were charged — along with 17 other co-defendants — with conspiracy to commit wire fraud by using stolen identities and falsified documents to create fraudulent driver accounts for rent or sale to people who might not otherwise qualify to drive for the rideshare or delivery services, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The defendants allegedly used victims’ identifying information to apply for these driver accounts, which enabled them to pass the companies’ required background checks and create driver accounts in victims’ names. The defendants obtained this identifying information — victims’ names, dates of birth, driver’s license information and social-security numbers — from co-conspirators and other sources, including sites on the DarkNet, prosecutors said.
The defendants and co-conspirators were also able to obtain driver’s license images directly from victims, by taking photos of their licenses while completing an alcohol delivery through one of the services, or by exchanging information with victims following motor-vehicle crashes, some of which were intentionally caused by the suspects, prosecutors said.
As a result of the scheme, Internal Revenue Service Forms 1099 were generated in victims’ names for income that conspirators earned from the rideshare and delivery companies, prosecutors said.
Barbosa and da Silveira obtained driver’s licenses and social-security numbers that they and their co-conspirators procured through the DarkNet and other sources. They then allegedly used these stolen identities to create and apply for numerous fraudulent accounts with the rideshare and delivery companies, and supplied these identifiers to other co-conspirators, who also created fraudulent accounts, prosecutors said.
To circumvent facial-recognition technology utilized by rideshare and delivery companies as a security measure, Barbosa edited victims’ driver’s license images to display photos of the drivers renting or buying the fraudulent accounts. In total, Barbosa admitted to creating more than 2,000 fraudulent rideshare accounts, prosecutors said.
Barbosa and da Silveira also advertised fraudulent driver accounts for rent and purchase to potential drivers, including via WhatsApp chat groups targeted to Brazilian nationals living in the United States. Barbosa and da Silveira managed the fraudulent accounts they rented out, specifically by collecting rental payments and troubleshooting issues that arose, prosecutors said.
Additionally, Barbosa and da Silveira used fraudulent driver accounts to exploit referral-bonus programs offered by the rideshare and delivery companies, and used “bots” and GPS “spoofing” technology to increase the income earned from the companies. Barbosa and da Silveira received more than $791,000 and $570,000, respectively, from the scheme in the form of rental payments from individuals driving under these accounts and payments from the companies generated with these accounts, prosecutors said.
Sixteen of the defendants have been arrested in connection with the conspiracy and three remain at large. Barbosa and da Silveira are the fifth and sixth defendants to plead guilty in the case, respectively.
Both face up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 for the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Barbosa faces at least two years in prison to be served consecutive to any other sentence imposed for the charge of aggravated identity theft.
