SANTA ANA, Calif. — A convicted felon from Orange County who used Instagram to teach his followers how to defraud banks pleaded guilty May 30 to conspiring with a bank employee and others to commit a check fraud scheme in which they sought $1.2 million.
Meshach Samuels, 26, of Placentia, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
According to his plea agreement, from May 2021 to March 2022, Samuels urged his Instagram followers to join his Telegram chat groups, where — for fees up to thousands of dollars — he would provide instructions on how to recruit accomplices and commit check fraud to steal money from banks.