14-year-old ran fraud scheme with mom, threatened kid who didn’t buy in, Florida cops say

A 14-year-old boy and his mother were accused of running a national identity theft scheme after the boy threatened a fellow student, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.

Detectives began looking into the mother and son after the 14-year-old threatened to kill the student in writing for not buying into an “organized pyramid fraud scheme he was running,” according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.

The boy, who is a student at Deltona High School, purchased stolen personal and financial information online, including Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and login information for banks and websites. He then used the stolen identities and account information to buy electronics, such as iPhones and Airpods, that he would later sell, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office wrote in an email.

Deltona is about 30 miles north of Orlando.

The boy also had instructions on how to forge money orders, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

During their investigation, detectives found messages between the boy and his mother in which she “told him she wished he could use his special abilities in a legal way,” the post says. But then, she asked him “to raise his prices to make higher profits.”

Detectives executed a search warrant at the boy’s home and found 12 laptops, four printers, four cellphones, several gaming systems and other electronics, the release said. Detectives were also able to identify 17 victims of the boy’s identity theft scheme. Fifteen of them said they wanted to pursue criminal charges when contacted by authorities.

The boy faces 15 counts of “identity theft and one count each of obtaining property by fraud, illegal use of credit cards and unlawful use of a 2-way communication device,” the sheriff’s office said.

His mother, Selena Wallace, 38, faces a principal charge to each count as well as one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the post says.

This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 2:41 PM with the headline "14-year-old ran fraud scheme with mom, threatened kid who didn’t buy in, Florida cops say."