A 34-year-old Buford man has been charged with targeting professional athletes through a phishing scam and engaging in a fraud and sex trafficking scheme.
In 2019, Kwamaine Jerell Ford was convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft for perpetrating similar phishing attacks and spending nearly $325,000 by using his victims’ stolen financial information.
“While serving time for stealing credit card numbers from athletes and celebrities to fund his lifestyle, Ford allegedly engaged in the same conduct again,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Disturbingly, the indictment alleges that Ford went even further and used a fraudulent online persona to traffic a young woman and coerce her to produce hidden camera videos of commercial sex acts with unknowing individuals.”
“Kwamaine Ford clearly did not learn from his prior conviction for a similar scheme. This time, he allegedly escalated his criminal activity—stealing identities and money while also moving into coercion and sex trafficking,” said FBI Georgia Acting Special Agent in Charge Peter Ellis. “The FBI’s dedicated agents remain committed to staying ahead of schemes like this and protecting the public from individuals who exploit and harm others for personal gain.”
According to Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: beginning in at least November 2020, while in the Federal Bureau of Prisons custody, Ford allegedly obtained login credentials for Apple accounts belonging to NBA and NFL players through a two-pronged approach.
First, Ford allegedly posed online as a well-known adult film star and offered to send sexually explicit videos to the athletes. At the same time, Ford spoofed legitimate Apple customer service accounts, posed as an Apple customer support representative, and requested, via text messages, that the victims send their username, password, and/or Multi-Factor Authentication codes in order to access the videos that his fraudulent adult film star persona was purportedly trying to send the victims. Through this phishing scheme, dozens of victims were allegedly tricked into providing their login credentials to Ford.
After gaining control of the victims’ Apple accounts, Ford allegedly obtained credit and debit card information belonging to victims and used that information to pay for thousands of dollars in personal spending.
Additionally, in May 2021, Ford allegedly posed as the adult film star and recruited, tricked, and coerced a female victim into engaging in commercial sex acts with the professional athletes based on false promises that the film star would advance the victim’s modeling career. Ford advertised the victim to the athletes, coordinated the victim’s travel to the athletes, and negotiated payments from the athletes for the purpose of purchasing sex with the victim.
Ford used additional fraudulent personas to threaten the victim and maintain her continued involvement in commercial sex acts with the athletes. Using false personas, Ford obtained a financial cut from the commercial sex acts, many of which Ford allegedly coerced his victim into filming without the athletes’ knowledge or consent.
Recently, Ford appeared in federal court and pled not guilty to nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of computer fraud, one count of access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of sex trafficking. A U.S. magistrate judge ordered that Ford be held without bail pending trial.