Source: Office of United States Attorneys
OAKLAND – A federal grand jury has indicted eight individuals in California, Michigan, Ohio, and Oregon for their roles in a nationwide scheme to defraud two mobile shopping service companies.
According to the indictment filed Aug. 7, 2025, and unsealed today, Abdulkadir Mohamed Ali, 31, of Portland, Oregon; Mazen Mohamed Hassan, 24, of Columbus, Ohio; Ahmed Mohamed Ali, 36, of Troy, Michigan; Abdirahman Abdalla Mahamed, 28, of San Diego, California; Hussein Mohamed Ali, 27, of Troy, Michigan; Abubakar Mohamed Ali, 29, of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Omar Mohamed Ali, 23, of Troy, Michigan; and Yusuf Mohamed Ali, 26, of Westerville, Ohio, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and eight counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
The indictment alleges that defendants conducted a phishing scheme targeting two mobile shopping service companies based in San Francisco, California and Birmingham, Alabama. As part of the scheme to defraud, defendants obtained a stolen list of active and inactive accounts of “shoppers,” individuals who purchase groceries or other merchandise to fulfill customer orders. Upon fraudulently gaining control over the shopper accounts, defendants allegedly placed fictitious customer orders using the mobile applications. Some of the defendants would then impersonate the shoppers and accept the fictitious customer orders. This would then prompt the mobile application to load funds to the shopper’s digital debit card, which the defendants had access to and control over, to fulfill the orders. Defendants, acting as the shopper, would go into a store to purchase gift cards rather than the items that had been ordered while simultaneously canceling the customer order.
After obtaining gift cards from the stores, defendants allegedly used the gift cards to purchase cryptocurrency, which they converted into U.S. currency, or completed online orders for their own benefit. In total, defendants are charged with stealing more than $1 million from two mobile shopping service companies.
This morning, Yusuf Mohamed Ali and Mazen Hassan Mohamed were arrested in Columbus, Ohio; Abubakar Mohamed Ali was arrested in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Abdulkadir Mohamed Ali was arrested in Portland, Oregon; and Ahmed Mohamed Ali, Abdirahman Abdalla Mahamed, Hussein Mohamed Ali, Abubakar Mohamed Ali, Omar Mohamed Ali were arrested in Detroit, Michigan. Each defendant made an initial appearance in federal district court today.
United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani, and Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) San Francisco Field Office made the announcement.
Defendants are currently released on bond. They are next scheduled to appear in federal district court in Oakland on Aug. 25, 2025, for an initial appearance before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, defendants each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and wire fraud and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth Chambers and Evan Mateer are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Amala James and Andy Ding. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and USSS.