TAMPA, FL — A Tampa man has been sentenced to five years and one month in federal prison after pleading guilty to creating counterfeit credit and debit cards.
Tampa U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday also ordered Devaris McClain, 30, to pay back the $92,346.54 he pleaded guilty to stealing from the U.S. Department of Labor and various financial institutions during a scam he ran from January 2015 to August 2016.
According to court documents, McClain and fellow conspirators made counterfeit credit and debit cards by obtaining prepaid gift cards, embossing them with their names and stolen identities, and then obliterating the magnetic strips on the backs of the cards to ensure employees at retail establishments would have to hand-key in the stolen account numbers embossed on the fronts of the cards.
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McClain and his co-conspirators then used the cards to purchase items, including more gift cards, from retail establishments to convert to cash, according to the Department of Justice.
The DOJ said McClain also participated in a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits from various state workforce agencies. These UI benefits were transferred to bank accounts or loaded onto debit cards issued in the names of those whose identities were stolen.
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In one case, McClain used a fraudulently obtained debit card in the…
