Food Porn Leads IRS To Identity Thieves

A nice, juicy steak sounds pretty good right now, especially with a side of macaroni and cheese. But that meal has Nathaniel Troy Maye facing 12 years of prison, since posting his tasty dinner on Instagram got him caught by police and convicted of identity theft.

According to the Sun Sentinal, the IRS had been on the trail of a man who said he had 700,000 stolen identities for sale, but they didn't have many other leads. A witness met the suspect at a Morton's steak restaurant in Florida on Jan. 6, and the suspect handed over a drive that allegedly contained 50,000 stolen identities to be used for filing fake income tax returns.

The drive turned out to only hold 50 identities, but it also had hidden data indicating the drive had belonged to a man named Troy Maye. The IRS googled the name and came up with an Instagram account that included photos of Troy Maye, as well as a photo of the steak dinner he'd ordered that night at Morton's when meeting the IRS informant. 

IRS agents arrested Maye at his girlfriend's apartment, where they also found 55,000 illegally obtained stolen identities.

Maye and his girlfriend were both arrested, and they pleaded guilty on Friday to aggravated identity theft and possession of unauthorized access devices. The couple faces up to 12 years in prison and massive fines.