Richard Yuan Li, Wire Fraud, Louisiana 2022

A California man has pleaded guilty to his role in a SIM Swap scam that targeted at least 40 people, including a New Orleans-area physician.

RICHARD YUAN LI, 21, a resident of Hercules, California, pleaded guilty on May 17, 2022, before United States District Judge Greg G. Guidry to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1349 and 1343.

A SIM Swap scam is a cellular phone account takeover fraud that results in the routing of a victim’s incoming calls and text messages to a different phone. Once a perpetrator is able to swap the SIM card, it is likely he is able to obtain access to a victim’s various personal accounts, including email accounts, bank accounts, and cryptocurrency accounts, as well as any other accounts that use two-factor authentication.

LI participated in a scheme that involved multiple parts. First, in January 2018, they defrauded Apple, Inc. into providing a second Apple iPhone without paying for it by convincing an Apple customer service representative that they had not received an Apple iPhone 8 they ordered.

LI and his co-conspirators then arranged for victims’ telephone numbers to be swapped to SIM cards contained in cellular phones in their possession. Between July 2018 and December 2018, LI participated in unauthorized SIM Swaps with his co-conspirators that targeted at least 40 phone numbers.

Specifically, on November 10, 2018, Victim A’s telephone number was swapped to the Apple iPhone 8, which LI kept in his dorm room at a university in California. The SIM swap caused the transmission of a series of writings, signs, signals, and sounds that traveled in interstate commerce, including between the States of Florida, Louisiana, and California.

LI faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000.00, up to three (3) years of supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee per count. He may also be ordered to pay restitution to the victims for their losses. Sentencing before Judge Guidry has been scheduled for August 9, 2022.

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