DETROIT – Federal authorities said a Detroit man spent years whipping out fake IDs and hijacking credit cards across multiple states, costing Capital One and others more than $200,000.
A federal complaint accuses Terrence Quincy‑Thomas Ward of manufacturing and selling fraudulent identification documents and using stolen personal information to open and exploit credit card accounts from at least early 2020 through January 2025.
Ward is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and related offenses and is set to face a federal magistrate in Detroit next week.
How it started
Investigators said the alleged scheme came into focus in late 2022, when Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois intercepted several parcels from China headed to Detroit, Michigan.
Inside, officers found blank PVC cards and laminate sheets with security features similar to those on Michigan and Pennsylvania driver’s licenses.
According to court records, Homeland Security agents traced one of the destination addresses to a Detroit home on Asbury Park owned by a company registered to Ward.
When the feds searched Ward’s home in March of 2023, they turned up what authorities describe as a small manufacturing operation for fake IDs: 116 identification cards or printouts, including at least one card with Ward’s photo but someone else’s name and date of birth.
The feds said they also found 14 Social Security cards and blank card stock, 945 blank plastic cards, 21 debit or credit cards in names other than Ward’s, 194 checks belonging to other people and multiple printers and card‑making devices.
Texts describe ‘faces,’ and same‑day service
In a separate federal fraud case, investigators dug deeper into Ward’s alleged ID business.
During a search of another person’s home, agents seized a cellphone and discovered an ongoing text thread from May 2020 to October 2023 with a number registered to Ward, listed in the contacts as “Nuddy” -- a street name agents said Ward used.
Throughout the conversation, the person “repeatedly arranges to purchase fraudulent identification documents from Ward,” the complaint said.
On Feb. 21, 2022, the person texted, “You got em?” Ward allegedly replied, “Faces?” -- slang for IDs, according to court documents. When the person said, “Yea Michigan,” Ward allegedly said, “Should be here tomorrow.”
In May 2022, the person asked, “Can you give me D’s same day?” referring to driver’s licenses. Ward said, “Yea 300 dame [sic] day,” the complaint said.
In September 2022, the person sent Ward a full set of biographical details and a headshot for a Georgia resident and requested a Georgia driver’s license, Social Security card and a “second forum,” believed to be a secondary doc. “Bet,” Ward said, later asking, “You want a cc an ssn too right?”
By February 2023, the texts in the complaint showed the person allegedly ordering a Michigan driver’s license tied to another person, attaching a photo and an address in Center Line, Michigan, and asking, “Need tomorrow… How much again?” Ward said, “200 for you… Send screenshot after payment.”
When the person paid $230 via Cash App, the person wrote, “I like seeing you win b**ch I don’t need no discounts… I will pay a stranger what he want so why wouldn’t I pay you the same…”
Traffic stop in Royal Oak leads to arrests
In February 2024, Royal Oak Police pulled Ward over for speeding and driving with one headlight, according to court records. During the stop, officers said Ward bolted from the car but was later found hiding on a garage roof at a nearby home. His passenger, identified as “T.J.” in court records, also ran and was arrested as he entered a Walgreens.
Officers reported seeing “T.J.” drop “a large number of gift cards and identification cards” with different names and photos behind a concrete pillar. “T.J.” told police that after Ward ran, Ward began texting him to “grab the cards and IDs from the vehicle,” court records said.
A search of Ward, “T.J.” and the car registered to Ward, turned up 30 suspected fraudulent driver’s licenses from multiple states, six suspected fake Social Security cards and credit and debit cards. Officers also found receipts from purchases earlier that evening using at least one card issued to someone else.
“T.J.” admitted to participating in an identity theft conspiracy with Ward, whom he knew as “Nuddy,” and said his phone held messages about the scheme, the feds said. “T.J.” told investigators he received $1,000 for helping Ward and that Ward had given him a fake ID and a fraudulent financial transaction card.
Capital One card tied to New Jersey victim
Among the items seized during the Royal Oak arrest was a New Jersey driver’s license belonging to a real person, along with a Capital One Mastercard. Officers also found mail addressed to the same person and receipts from Detroit‑area CVS stores.
There were about $2,000 in purchases made earlier that night, all charged to the card. The New Jersey resident confirmed to investigators that they had been a victim of identity theft.
iCloud records show images of fake IDs
When Royal Oak officers initially handed Ward his phone so he could unlock it, he instead tried to power it down and physically resisted efforts to retrieve it, triggering extra security, according to the complaint.
Police eventually searched Ward’s Apple iCloud account and found more than 1,000 images, videos, notes and messages, according to federal investigators.
One photo showed driver’s licenses from Arizona, California and Texas, all with the same individuals’ photos appearing on multiple state licenses. Another image showed a “Fraud Fighter” counterfeit ID detection device with a UV light -- a tool typically used by legitimate businesses to spot fake IDs, said the feds.
Yet another photo appeared to show a Michigan driver’s license being created on a computer screen, according to court records. Other images depict what agents said are fraudulent Social Security cards.
Capital One: more than $211K in losses
The investigation expanded further when agents contacted Capital One’s corporate investigations team and provided details on the five Capital One cards seized from Ward in February 2024.
Capital One investigators reported that those five cards had been activated by four different phone numbers, including a Google Voice number, that records tied to Ward. Ward’s iCloud records showed that number was used to access his account as far back as June 2019.
From January 2020 through January 2025, those four phone numbers were used to activate or otherwise access about 205 Capital One credit card accounts on 562 occasions, Capital One told federal agents. Ward’s Google Voice number was the incoming call number on 282 of those contacts and was used to activate or access 107 accounts, the complaint said.
In all, the bank identified about 158 individual account holders associated with those 205 accounts, spread across at least nine states, including Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.
Capital One investigators told agents that the scheme’s success in defeating the bank’s fraud safeguards hinged in part on the use of doctored IDs that matched real cardholders’ names and personal information.
From late March 2023 through January 2025, Capital One identified about 384 fraudulent transactions tied to 91 accounts accessed by Ward’s number or three other numbers linked to cards found in his possession. Roughly 257 of those transactions happened at businesses in and around metro Detroit. The bank’s total losses on those transactions are estimated at $211,499.66, according to the complaint.
Ward seen at Chuck E. Cheese, the movies
Capital One later sent agents a list of the 10 most recent transactions identified as fraudulent. All were made with a Capital One card assigned to another real person, court records said.
On Dec. 31, 2024, the card was activated by Ward’s Google Voice number, the bank told investigators. Security footage from a Chuck E. Cheese in Troy showed a man matching Ward’s appearance using the card for two purchases totaling $39.96.
A few days later, on Jan. 4, 2025, surveillance video from Riviera Cinema in Farmington Hills captured two more transactions charged to the same card, totaling $48.77. Again, agents said the man in the footage was Ward.
On Jan. 9, 2025, the person called Capital One and reported they had never received that card in the mail and that all the charges since its activation were fraudulent, according to court records.
Next court date
Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of any property “constituting, or derived from, proceeds” of the alleged scheme, including a money judgment of $200,696.84.
Records show Ward was previously given a $10,000 bond. Ward is scheduled to be back in federal court March 11 at 1 p.m. in Detroit.