Instagram Posts Helped Fuel $2.8M SoCal Stolen Check Scheme: Prosecutors

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Crips street gang member who used Instagram to recruit participants in a multimillion-dollar stolen-check scheme was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.

Chase Matthew Griffin, 26, also known as “Trey,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton and ordered to pay $307,386 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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Griffin, who is from Atlanta and previously lived in Ontario and South Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He has remained in federal custody since September 2025.

Prosecutors said Griffin participated in a conspiracy that obtained checks stolen from the mail between 2022 and September 2025. The checks were altered or used to create counterfeit versions listing Griffin’s accomplices as the recipients.

Griffin recruited bank account holders through Instagram, where he posted photos showing himself with stacks of cash more than a foot high, according to prosecutors.

After gaining access to recruits’ accounts, Griffin and his co-conspirators deposited fraudulent checks — often worth tens of thousands of dollars — and withdrew the money before banks detected the fraud, prosecutors said.

The scheme involved approximately $2.8 million in fraudulent checks.

In one case, a North Hollywood business reported mailing three checks worth a combined $84,490 from a U.S. Postal Service collection box in Tarzana in December 2023.

The checks were stolen and deposited into JPMorgan Chase accounts that did not belong to the intended recipients. Images later showed that the names of the payees had been changed, according to prosecutors.

Investigators reviewing one of the accounts discovered an earlier deposit of about $22,487 at an ATM in Upland. That check and another worth approximately $29,081 had been stolen and reproduced with different payees while retaining the original dates, check numbers and amounts.

Money withdrawn from the account was used for ATM transactions, Zelle and Cash App transfers, a plane ticket and purchases at a San Bernardino County casino, prosecutors said.

Investigators ultimately traced the operation to Griffin.