Paki who Bribed AT&T workers to Unlock Cell Phones for Profit Extradited from Hong Kong

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A 34-year-old citizen of Pakistan, who allegedly paid insiders at telecommunications giant AT&T to plant malware and otherwise misuse computer networks to unlock cellphones, made an initial appearance today on a 14-count federal indictment, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. MUHAMMAD FAHD was arrested in Hong Kong on February 4, 2018, at the request of the United States, and was extradited to the U.S. on Friday August 2, 2019. The second superseding indictment, filed in March 2018, describes how FAHD recruited and paid AT&T insiders to use their computer credentials and access to disable AT&T’s proprietary locking software that prevented ineligible phones from being removed from AT&T’s network. The scheme resulted in millions of phones being removed from AT&T service and/or payment plans, costing the company millions of dollars. FAHD allegedly paid the insiders hundreds of thousands of dollars – paying one coconspirator $428,500 over the five-year scheme.

MUHAMMAD FAHD is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Travel Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, four counts of wire fraud, two counts of accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud, two counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, and four counts of violating the Travel Act.

“This defendant thought he could safely run his bribery and hacking scheme from overseas, making millions of dollars while he induced young workers to choose greed over ethical conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. “Now he will be held accountable for the fraud and the lives he has derailed.”

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