Apple Pay Fraud: Miami Man Linked Stolen Credit Cards To iPhones

JACKSONVILLE, FL — A 30-year-old Miami man was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for linking at least 477 stolen credit cards to Apple Pay on iPhones and racking up more than $1.5 million in purchases along with three others.

Daniel "Flame" Butler was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis to 54 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty on May 16.

U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez of the Middle District of Florida announced the sentence on Friday.

"Butler and others fraudulently obtained access to at least 477 credit card accounts and linked those accounts to the Apple Pay app on their iPhones," according to federal prosecutors.

"Then, using their iPhones, Butler and his co-conspirators made purchases using their victims’ credit card accounts without having to present actual credit cards to retailers," federal prosecutors explained.

Twenty-four-year-old Johnny Max Wesley of Miami was sentenced to four years in federal prison back in December of 2018 in connection with the scheme.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rachel Bishop and 31-year-old Laurent Pierre Louis, both also of Miami, are scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Court documents said Butler and the others tricked credit card companies into giving them access to account information.

"It was part of the conspiracy that the defendants and a co-conspirator repeatedly would telephone credit card issuers, including Capital One Bank, falsely represent that they were credit cardholders and trick the card issuer into giving the defendants or their co-conspirators access to, and control over, the legitimate cardholders' accounts."

Court documents said the group drove from store to store making fraudulent purchases with their iPhones. Many of the purchases were for prepaid debit cards.

Court documents said some of the purchases were made in Brevard County, Charlotte County, Manatee County, Sarasota County, Volusia County, Clay County, Saint Johns County and Duval County.

According to the Apple website, information that users provide about a particular card, "whether certain device settings are enabled, and device use patterns — such as the percent of time the device is in motion and the approximate number of calls you make per week — may be sent to Apple to determine your eligibility to enable Apple Pay."

The Apple website said information may also be provided by Apple to card issuers, payment networks or any providers authorized by the card issuer to enable Apple Pay, determine eligibility of a particular card, set up the card with Apple Pay or to prevent fraud.

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Coolican.