Authorities have charged an 18-year-old in Massachusetts with allegedly buying gift cards to support ISIS. Mateo Ventura, from the town of Wakefield, is accused of giving multiple Google Play gift cards to somebody he believed was an ISIS supporter but was actually an undercover FBI officer. He was told the cards were “donations” that could be anonymously sold off on the dark web to fund the terrorist organization. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts, Ventura donated more than $1,670 in gift cards between January and May of this year, and he intended for the money to finance “war” on unbelievers. In other messages with the undercover agent, he allegedly sent a voice note of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS, and said he had a “stack of cash” he planned to use to flee the country and join ISIS. He now faces up to 10 years in prison on federal charges of knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
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