Phan and Tran Sentenced in $330,000 Cell Phone Fraud Scheme

BOSTON – In a groundbreaking federal court sentencing yesterday, Jimmy Phan and Lee Tran were handed down significant penalties for their involvement in a massive multi-state scheme to defraud T-Mobile out of more than $330,000 worth of new cell phones.

Phan, 30, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Mark L. Wolf to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay approximately $275,000 in restitution. Tran, also 30, from Waltham, was sentenced to 12 months of probation with a $3,200 restitution order after both pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in February 2016.

This six-person syndicate targeted T-Mobile, with Phan and Tran being two of the key figures. Kevin Johnson was sentenced to 70 months in prison in April 2017, while David Hul and Curtis Peebles were sentenced to 21 and 18 months respectively in May 2016. The conspiracy charge against Khoa Doan was dropped after he was sentenced on a related charge.

Phan, Hul, Peebles, Johnson, and their co-conspirators gained access to T-Mobile’s customer records, obtaining sensitive details such as names, phone numbers, and upgrade eligibility information. From January 2014 through October 17, 2014, the group impersonated T-Mobile employees, calling customer service centers and using dealer codes to add any name as an authorized user on accounts.

They then recruited runners like Tran, who would go into T-Mobile stores across several states including Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida, and more, under false names. They acquired new cell phones eligible for upgrades and returned them to the conspirators, who resold them domestically and internationally.

The scheme successfully defrauded T-Mobile, but not without consequences for its participants. Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Matthew J. Etre of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Stephen A. Marks of the U.S. Secret Service’s Boston Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto from Weinreb’s Cybercrime Unit prosecuted the case.

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