US Jails Pakistan National For 12 Years Over Scheme To Unlock 2Mln Phones - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2021) Muhammad Fahd, a dual national of Pakistan and Grenada, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for running a seven-year scheme of unlocking nearly 2 million AT&T telephones resulting in more than $200 million in financial losses, the US Justice Department said in a press release.

"Muhammad Fahd, a citizen of Pakistan and Grenada, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for his leadership role in a seven-year scheme to unlawfully unlock nearly 2 million phones to defraud AT&T Inc. (AT&T), inflicting more than $200 million in losses," the release said on Thursday.

The court said the defendant, along with co-conspirators, bribed and recruited AT&T employees in Bothell, Washington, to use their corporate credentials to unlock phones for ineligible customers, the release said.

By unlocking the phones, Fahd made it possible for AT&T account holders to avoid having to pay off their cellular phones after they purchased them with special discounts, the release said.

The forensic analysis by AT&T found that the total number of fraudulently unlocked phones was 1,900,033 while the loss amount was $201,497,430.94, the release added.

Fahd was indicted in 2017 and arrested in Hong Kong in 2018 followed by his extradition to the United States in 2019. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in September 2020, according to the release.