Two Connecticut men face federal charges for allegedly defrauding FanDuel and other online gambling sites of $3 million over several years using the stolen identities of approximately 3,000 victims.
29-year-olds Amitoj Kapoor and Siddharth Lillaney, both of Glastonbury, Connecticut, were arrested Thursday following a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury and were each released on a $300,000 bond.
According to the indictment, they bought the stolen personally identifying information (PII) of thousands of people from darknet markets and the Telegram messaging platform, then, with the help of multiple accomplices, used it to create thousands of fraudulent accounts on gambling sites (including FanDuel, Draft Kings, and BetMGM) between April 2021 and 2026.
The defendants also allegedly maintained subscriptions to background-check services such as TruthFinder and BeenVerified to obtain additional information required to pass verification questions when opening the gambling accounts.
To keep the stolen PII organized, Kapoor created a “Tracker.xlsx” spreadsheet containing victims’ PII, including names, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers.
“l’ve just been going through the list of Social Security numbers and using the reverse phone search on the scam shield app,” Kapoor allegedly told Lillaney in a text message. “If the name matches, I just make that account. Didn’t even have to open BeenVerified for the last 8 accounts I made that way.”
Prosecutors said the scheme targeted promotional bonuses offered by online gambling platforms to new users who made initial deposits or bets.
When bets placed using promotional credits won, the defendants transferred their winnings to virtual stored-value cards that were allowed for FanDuel deposits and withdrawals. They then moved the fraudulent proceeds to bank and investment accounts under their control.
The indictment charges Kapoor and Lillaney with multiple offenses, including:
- Conspiracy to commit wire and identity fraud (1 count, up to 5 years),
- Wire fraud (23 counts, up to 20 years each),
- Identity fraud (8 counts, up to 15 years each),
- Aggravated identity theft (2 counts, mandatory 2-year consecutive sentence),
- Money laundering conspiracy (1 count, up to 20 years),
- Money laundering (10 counts, each up to 20 years).
“As alleged, these two men used thousands of stolen identities to open online gambling accounts and exploit new user incentives, which for several years allowed them to gamble with stolen money,” U.S. David X. Sullivan said.
“Individuals who commit identity theft of this magnitude deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. It’s alleged those charged caused immeasurable hardship to the victims of their identity theft scheme,” added IRS Special Agent in Charge Thomas Demeo.
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