NEW HAMPSHIRE (WHNT) — A Huntsville man was one of eight indicted last week in an international scheme to bill $10 million in fraudulent market survey data, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
United States Attorney’s Office in the District of New Hampshire, acting Attorney Jay McCormack, announced on April 15 that eight people were indicted on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud:
- Frank Hayden, 57, of Evanston, Illinois
- Daniel Harriman, 38, of Huntsville, Alabama
- Frank Nappo, 55, of Rye, New Hampshire
- Ryan Stoudt, 38, of Dallas, Texas
- Katarina Grubljesic, 46, of Belgrade, Serbia
- Strahinja Grubljesic, 38, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Archie Ignacio, 46, of Verona, New Jersey
- Arvind Iyer, a/k/a S. Aravindan, of Delhi, India
According to the indictment, Op4G and Slice were market research companies based in the United States. The indictment said clients would hire the companies to conduct market research surveys.
In 2014, Hayden, Harriman and Nappo, who were senior leaders at Op4G, decided to increase company revenues by generating fake survey data. To accomplish this scheme, the indictment said some defendants recruited “ants,” who pretended to be legitimate survey takers but were paid a nominal fee for completing surveys that produced fraudulent market research data.
The indictment said some of the defendants even served as “ants” and fraudulently took large quantities of surveys themselves and received significant payment for their “ant” work.
“In or around 2018, Nappo, Hayden and others decided that Op4G should move the fraudulent survey operation to a new company, which became Slice. By 2019, Op4G and Slice began conspiring with Iyer, a senior leader at an international company, SNWare. By 2021, Katarina Grublijesic left Op4G, but she continued to conspire with the defendants using her international company, Bright Analytic Consulting,” the District of New Hampshire said.
To not be caught, the defendants, including Stoudt and Ignacio, exchanged instructions with each other and the “ants.” The District of New Hampshire said these instructions included directions on how to answer survey screener questions, provided parameters on how long “ants” should remain on surveys and encouraged the use of virtual private network services to hide real IP addresses.
Hayden, Harriman, Nappo, Stoudt and Ignacio will appear in federal court at a later date.
The statute outlines a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.
The FBI led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen is prosecuting the case. The District of New Hampshire said companies that purchased survey data from Op4G or Slice between 2014-2024 are encouraged to contact the U.S. Attorney’s office at [email protected] with the subject line “Slice.”
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