Prolific fraudster pleads guilty to multiple scams that resulted in over $600,000 in losses

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Washington man pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, from at least January 2021 through April 2022, Marco Raquan Honesty, 28, engaged with co-conspirators in a number of fraud schemes including defrauding COVID relief programs, “smishing” scams, forged money orders, creating fake IDs and vehicle titles, a bank account takeover scheme, and selling stolen financial information online.

From at least April through October of 2021, Honesty conspired to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided loans that were supposed to help eligible businesses cover specific permissible business expenses, such as making payroll payments. Honesty and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications for non-existent sole proprietorships. Honesty obtained kickback payments or fees from some of the PPP loans that he helped obtain, sometimes receiving payment of $10,000 per fraudulent PPP loan.

Honesty and his co-conspirators submitted at least 16 first draw and nine second draw PPP loan applications, all of which were funded by the Small Business Association (SBA). Honesty and his co-conspirators also created false tax returns, including 2019 1040 Schedule C IRS Forms, to support the fraudulent PPP loan applications. A total of 15 individuals were involved in the fraudulent scheme, which resulted in a total loss of $509,069.00 to the SBA. Honesty procured PPP loans through this scheme for himself, his father, his two sisters, his grandmother, his cousin, the mother of his children, and various other friends and associates.

Honesty engaged in a “smishing” scheme, short for “SMS phishing,” where he used a website that was spoofed to resemble a legitimate bank website. Honesty would send victims text messages crafted to appear to be from a bank, and typically included a link to the website in the message. Typically, the fraudulent text message alerted the victim of an unauthorized transfer of the victims’ funds. Victims would click the link in the text message and enter their username and password into the fraudulent website, allowing Honesty to obtain the victims’ usernames and passwords.

Honesty used one smishing victim’s information to complete a purchase with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for temporary permits in support of a scheme to defraud car dealerships by providing fraudulent identification documents, cashier’s checks, and insurance documents for ostensible car purchases. From January through June of 2021, Honesty created fraudulent IDs to sell to other individuals, who in turn supplied these fraudulent documents to dealerships and attempted to purchase vehicles.

From December 2021 to January 2022, Honesty engaged in a scheme in which he purchased large quantities of Western Union money orders, typically for one dollar each, then scratched the true amount off the money order and used computers, software programs, and printers to manipulate the money orders to reflect larger amounts, typically $500, $900, or $1,000. After the money orders were altered, Honesty deposited them into ATMs at various banks. In some instances, Honesty coordinated with co-conspirators to deposit the money orders and withdraw the proceeds quickly before the banks could determine that the money orders had been altered and reverse the deposits. Honesty conspired to deposit at least $79,700 of fraudulent money orders.

Honesty operated a Telegram channel called “Heavenly Logs” with the username @Criptonic831, on which he advertised stolen credit cards, stolen checks, stolen bank log-in information, and other fraud-related contraband for sale to his followers. Honesty also orchestrated an account takeover scheme in which he gained access to victim accounts and, without the knowledge or permission of the account owner, transferred money to himself and his co-conspirators via payment platforms such as Zelle and intrabank transfers.

On Sept. 7, 2023, law enforcement searched Honesty’s residence. Among other things, agents seized 24 cellphones, three laptops, blank Social Security card templates, a 16-pound box of blank IRS 1099 forms, Virginia temporary vehicle tags, multiple SIM cards for cellphones, a credit card embossing machine, blank cards with microchips, a credit card reader, a debit card in the name of an unrelated person, and a check stolen from an unrelated person.

The known attempted loss for all of Honesty’s fraud schemes combined is $850,204.64. The actual known loss amount of the schemes is $621,958.50.

Honesty is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23 and faces a up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and a mandatory term of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft to be served consecutively with any other term of imprisonment imposed. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Sean Ryan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine E. Rumbaugh and Kathleen Robeson are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:25-cr-3.