A Brooklyn Center resident has entered a guilty plea for perpetrating a fraudulent travel scheme as a shadowy travel agent. Reginae Calhoun, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota, admitted to charges of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft on Monday.
During a span that stretched from April to June 2024, Calhoun reportedly ran a rogue operation, buying up credit card details for around 216 individuals from the dark web and using them to book hotels and car rentals, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota. Her clientele, paying just a slice of the actual prices via various payment apps or with cold hard cash, were unaware. Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick remarked on the case, outlining how Calhoun “stole hundreds of victim identities and used them to conduct a black-market travel agent fraud scheme”—stealing to enrich herself.
Calhoun was snagged by the authorities after multiple failed attempts to purchase airline tickets tripped airline fraud alarms on June 2, 2024. Airport police, collaborating with the credit card holders, confirmed they had not authorized Calhoun’s shopping spree. As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of the FBI in Minneapolis underscored the growing digital security threat posed by criminals dealing in stolen information on the dark web. “The anonymity of the internet,” he claimed, “does not protect offenders from detection.”…