Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Masud D’Andre Headen, 29, was arrested yesterday on a warrant for attempted grand theft of $8,600, uttering a forged instrument, and scheme to defraud for allegedly trying to cash a fraudulent check in December 2022. Headen is on pre-trial release on charges of stealing a car and altering the VIN.

The arrest affidavit for Headen’s December 1 arrest for stealing a car noted that officers found communications on the phones “involving a myriad of frauds.” Gainesville Police Department obtained a new search warrant and reportedly found information about Headen purchasing personal banking information for other people and selling it to others. There were reportedly communications about selling cloned credit cards, fake checks with real account information, and fake money orders. In those messages, Headen reportedly told others how to access the stolen bank account information and engage in a scam called “card cracking,” along with “conversations about how easy it is to make money doing these scams.”

Headen was released on December 2 on $50,000 bail and allegedly went to Drummond Bank on December 7 to deposit a fraudulent check for $8,600. He allegedly deposited it through the ATM into an account belonging to a third party; the next day, Headen was allegedly seen on surveillance video using the ATM to check the balance in the account.

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However, bank staff flagged the transaction as potentially fraudulent and referred it to a fraud investigator, who told them not to process the check. The fraud investigator used a phone number connected to the account owner’s mobile app to identify Headen as a suspect and matched database photos of Headen with the surveillance video.

The arrest affidavit reports that Headen’s phone communications show transactions in which he sells personal banking information belonging to other people for varying amounts, depending on the amount available in the account. For example, an account with $1,000 would be priced at $200. There were reportedly messages about selling cloned credit cards, fake checks with real account information, and fake money orders. Headen reportedly gives people instructions on how to access the stolen accounts, how to perform a scam called “card cracking,” and how easy it is to make money with these scams. The report states that Headen never sends the same information twice and notes that more charges are likely.

Headen was arrested on multiple warrants, one for failure to appear at a hearing in the stolen automobile case with bail of $75,000 and one for the fraudulent check case with bail of $100,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.