A four-year undercover investigation has ended with the arrest of a San Antonio woman, who’s now charged with operating a subscription counterfeit coupon service that caused retailers and manufacturers some $18 million in losses.
Federal prosecutors say Janet Bernal was taken into custody yesterday and charged with three counts of wire fraud. She’s accused of creating and selling tens of thousands of counterfeit coupons to members of her “Darkside Jungle” group on the Telegram messaging app.
According to the criminal complaint, members paid $75 to join the group, and $50 (later upped to $100) per month thereafter. Membership gave them unlimited access to a wide variety of fraudulent coupons that were redeemed at retailers across the country.
Investigators got wind of the scheme and infiltrated the group back in June 2020. Over a four-year period, ending just last month, the undercover members downloaded about 7,500 coupons, which were then analyzed and determined to be counterfeit.
But it was a homemade tumbler that apparently tripped her up.
In addition to a selection of tens of thousands of fake coupons, Bernal – using the alias “RockyG-Kruella” – allegedly offered “homemade tumbler-style cups for sale.” The undercover investigators purchased one, and used it to find out just who RockyG-Kruella really was.
As described in the criminal complaint, the tumbler was packaged inside a cardboard box, and mailed inside a shipping box with a San Antonio return address. “Law enforcement sent the tumbler and the cardboard box and shipping box to a laboratory for fingerprint analysis,” the criminal complaint reads. That analysis turned up a dozen fingerprints, which matched those of Bernal, whose “fingerprints were on file with law enforcement due to a prior unrelated arrest.”
With a name and an address, U.S. Postal Inspectors were able to move in and make an arrest. Bernal appeared before a federal judge in Texas yesterday, before she was released on $15,000 bond. Her case will move forward in federal court in New Jersey.
If convicted, Bernal faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice her gain or her victims’ loss from the scheme. Investigators say the victims include at least 156 retailers, as well as numerous manufacturers whose coupons were counterfeited, all adding up to a loss of approximately $18 million.
Her alleged use of the Telegram app comes as the platform’s CEO is facing charges of his own. Pavel Durov was arrested in France over the weekend, related to allegations that his largely unmoderated platform is being used for criminal activity. In a statement reacting to his arrest, Telegram called it “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
In Bernal’s case, it’s not Telegram’s CEO who will be taking the fall. If convicted, it will be the creator and distributor of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons sold on the platform who ends up paying the price.
Image source: cpyles 
