Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the indictment of MICHAEL BROWN and ANDREW LLOYD for wire fraud charges in connection with a nationwide online marketing scheme to post fake advertisements for rental properties across the United States on a classified advertisements website. The purpose of the scheme was to fraudulently induce potential customers to enter their credit card information on credit monitoring websites owned by BROWN and obtain a credit report under false pretenses in order to automatically enroll the customers in a monthly membership for credit monitoring services. BROWN was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on October 27, 2022, after he arrived on a flight from Mexico and was detained pending trial. LLOYD was arrested earlier today in Pennsylvania and will be presented in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania later today. The case is assigned to United States District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Online scams have spiraled out of control, to the point where nearly every online interaction must be approached with weariness of its validity. Nevertheless, as alleged, Michael Brown and Andrew Lloyd gave their victims no opportunity to suspect a scam as they…
