A Florida influencer has been arrested and charged with wire fraud after she allegedly used a Massachusetts resident’s personal information to acquire a COVID-19 relief loan.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, 31-year-old Danielle Miller used the funds for personal expenses, including footing the bill for a private flight to California and staying at luxury hotels. Miller was able to obtain the identification of the Massachusetts victim—who has only been identified as L.M.S.—by allegedly gaining access to the Registry of Motor Vehicles database. She then used the person’s info to open a bank account and apply for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan, and was given over $102,000 by the SBA in August 2020.
Miller’s Instagram profile @killadmilla has over 35,000 followers, where she appears to post photos of herself on lavish vacations and wearing expensive clothes. According to court documents, she shared images of herself at luxury hotels in California, which were linked to charges on the victim’s bank account. One was the Petit Ermitage, which purportedly charged $5,500 to the account in September 2020, days after her IG account geotagged the same location. She got around using a fake Massachusetts driver’s license that had the victim’s name and Miller’s photo, and also withdrew money from the account in various ATM transactions.
Miller allegedly used other identities to request more funding, totaling over $900,000, and used the same IP address to again access the RMV database and apply for the loans. She’s facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years, with three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
