Member of “Noir’s Luxury Refunds” Telegram Channel Pleads Guilty to Fraud

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A member of "Noir's Luxury Refunds" pled guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy, organized through the cloud-based messaging service Telegram, that targeted retailers across the country, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples.

Brian Nicklaus Buchanan, 28, of Clayton, North Carolina, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

According to court documents, Buchanan was a member of Noir's Organization, a group that operated the Telegram channel "Noir's Luxury Refunds," as well as other fraud-based Telegram channels. Noir's Luxury Refunds was dedicated to refund fraud, a type of fraud where a purchaser claims to return an item, receives a refund, but keeps the product. Customers would pay Noir's Organization a percentage of the product price in exchange for the organization fraudulently refunding the item on the customer's behalf. Noir's Organization marketed itself as having the expertise to defraud retailers across the world in a wide range of industries. At one point, the Noir's Luxury Refunds channel had over 5,900 followers. Noir's Organization operated from July 2020 until July 2022.

Documents reflect that the group obtained refunds or attempted to obtain refunds for millions of dollars' worth of products, including electronics, designer clothing and apparel, home furnishings, and appliances. Noir's Organization used a variety of tactics to commit refund fraud, including social engineering to manipulate customer services representatives into issuing refunds, manipulating shipping labels to deceive a retailer into believing they had received a returned product when it had not, and recruiting customer service representatives as "insiders" to perform refunds on the conspiracy's behalf. Noir's Organization also developed malware that would target retailers' websites to facilitate refund fraud by circumventing fraud prevention measures.

Ten other individuals who are alleged to have been members of Noir's Organization have been indicted in related cases pending in the Northern District of Alabama:

• Aiman Akram Kaif, also known as "Dior," 19, from New York, New York;
• Damion Wayne Scarlett, also known as "Dash," 23, from Deer Park, New York;
• Dhruv Gargi, also known as "Panda," 24, from Newark, New Jersey;
• David James Park, also known as "Plutus," 22, from Phoenix, Arizona;
• Andre Johannes Ischler Simonet, also known as "Chief," 22, from Northfield, Minnesota;
• Nicholas John Caruso, also known as "Deaf," 31, from Dallas, Texas;
• Jennifer Mireya Palma, also known as "Bianca," 23, from Los Angeles, California;
• CK Chikong Tran, also known as "Radiant," 28, from New York, New York;
• Tyree Samuel Tinsley, also known as "Tysamtin," 30, from Richmond, Virginia; and
• Jason Seib, also known as "Waynor," 42, from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The FBI investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John M. Hundscheid and Edward J. Canter are prosecuting the cases.

Assistance was provided by Target Corporation; Amazon.com, Inc.; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Wayfair Inc.; Dell Technologies; Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc.; American Airlines Group Inc.; Hewlett Packard Incorporated; Adidas AG; eBay Inc.; and Google's CyberCrime Investigation Group. The Sûreté Nationale of Morrocco also provided valuable assistance to the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Operation Chargeback, an FBI investigation into organized refund fraud groups across the United States and internationally. Cases have also been brought in the Western District of Washington and the Northern District of Oklahoma as part of the initiative.

For more resources on cybercrime, visit www.ic3.gov.

An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.