Tampa Woman Sentenced In Credit Card Fraud Scheme

 Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge William Jung has sentenced Ariel Tillman (37, Tampa) to two years and eight months in federal prison for credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of her sentence, the court also entered a money judgment of $225,271.04, the proceeds of the fraud.

Tillman had pleaded guilty on December 3, 2019.

According to court documents, from approximately July through October 2018, Tillman and others devised and executed a scheme whereby they obtained stolen credit card numbers and used those account numbers to purchase stamps at night from self-service kiosks at various U.S. Post Offices. They then sold the stamps on the secondhand market.  During the course of its investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service obtained dozens of surveillance photos of Tillman using counterfeit credit cards to make purchases at Post Offices in Brandon, Brandon-Bloomingdale, Riverview, Sun City Center (Ruskin), Temple Terrace, Carrollwood (Tampa), Dunedin, Forest Hills, St. Petersburg, New Tampa, and Pinellas Park.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Jones.