“Wildboy,” “Fatty,” “Jizzle” and several other scammers with colorful noms de guerre are in hot water with the feds after allegedly duping hundreds of Navy Federal Credit Union customers out of up to $2 million.
In an indictment filed last month, federal prosecutors said they broke up a 10-person scam ring targeting members of the military community in Virginia near Naval Station Norfolk, the largest navy complex in the world.
The indictment accused Rodney Thornton, Steven Jones III, Jamaica Sumner, Troy Davis III, Laterrance Parker Jr., Jordan Pugh, Lois Staton, Joy Davis, Persia Brown and Andrea Holley of multiple felony counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. Some had aliases such as “Arod,” “T-roy,” “Jizz” and “Lil T” or a combination of nicknames, according to court records.
Between 2023 and 2025, the scammers looked for “military age males” in parking lots or gas stations where they would attempt to coerce the “mark” into letting them use their phone, according to court records.
In teams of two — a “talker” and a “dragger” — the scammers would tell the victim that they could not access their own NFCU accounts or were in need of money and needed to borrow their phone.
The scammers would offer to compensate the victims through money apps such as Zelle or Cash App to access their phone. Once they had the phone, the scammers would then illegally transfer money from the victim into their own accounts, submit fraudulent loans or steal personal information. Court records listed examples of the scammers taking $5,000-$6,000 at a time.
“In many of these scenarios, if someone is genuinely having trouble with their account or an ATM, they should contact Navy Federal directly,” Ally Armeson, the executive director of FightCybercrime.org, told Task & Purpose. The organization provides resources to service members and veterans to combat scams such as this. “These criminals are skilled at creating urgency, making it difficult to think critically.”
The scammers would urge victims to obtain money orders or cash from an ATM, and if they did not comply, they would physically take their phone, use biometric data to open it or in at least one instance, would flash a firearm, prosecutors alleged.
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If a victim became aware of the ruse, the scammers would attempt to contact them days later and allegedly threaten them with knowledge of their home address. They would also try to cover up their tracks by deleting email notifications or even the NFCU app on a victim’s phone and return it to them in airplane mode so they wouldn’t be immediately notified of any illicit transactions.
Within eastern Virginia alone, prosecutors said that 500 victims have reported this scam.
“Navy Federal Credit Union is deeply concerned about these schemes and is actively cooperating with law enforcement in investigations,” said Aziz Hazou-Gonzales, a spokesperson for NFCU. “These cases illustrate how important it is to treat an authenticated banking app with the same level of caution as a wallet.”
Hazou-Gonzales added that customers who believe they have been targeted by a scam should contact police immediately and encourage NFCU members – who are service members, veterans or military families – to “remain vigilant and cautious about letting others use their phones, especially in unfamiliar or high-traffic public areas.”