Alabama man Mekhi Diwone Harris has been sentenced to a decade in prison for his involvement in a massive check fraud operation conducted through the Telegram channel “Work Related.”
U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples announced that Harris, 25, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $160,000 by U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala. He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in April 2024.
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Harris, operating under the Telegram handle “@O1ihk,” served as an administrator of the “Work Related” channel from April 2022 to August 2023. During this time, the channel facilitated the sale of over a thousand stolen or fraudulent checks, impacting individuals, businesses, churches, schools, and non-profit organizations. The total value of the checks involved exceeded $10 million.
“Check fraud is a growing national problem,” U.S. Attorney Escalona said. “That is in no small part due to Telegram channels like the one run by the defendant, which operated as a one-stop shop for other scammers to purchase stolen financial instruments. Thanks to the tremendous partnership from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama and our law enforcement partners who worked on this case, we were able to bring the administrator of the ‘Work Related’ channel to justice.”
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The FBI led the investigation with significant support from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Canter prosecuted the case.
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