How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » identity

Elaborate Scheme Leaves 180 With Over $1 Million In Fraudulent Purchases

Amanda Miller — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:05:58 +0000

Charges were announced last Thursday against seven members of an identity theft ring that allegedly used stolen identities of more than 180 people at major New York City retail stores including Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Kohl’s, among others. The ring of fraudsters resold merchandise and gift cards for a profit after purchasing them under account holders names fraudulently.

Allegedly, as part of the scheme, the member of the ring manufactured driver’s licenses using the stolen identity information to facilitate their impersonations of the legitimate cardholders at the stores.

The ring consisted of Phillip Smith, the ring’s leader, Melissa Morton, who allegedly impersonated female identity theft victims, Mahmoud Abdul Hussein, Ali Abdul Hussein, Fadal Abdul Hussein, three brothers who allegedly manufactured the fake driver’s licenses out of their storefront smoke shops in Greenwich Village; and Francis Hidalgo and Randy White, who are alleged to have resold the illegally obtained store credits or used them to buy materials for home improvement projects for their businesses.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated that “Identity theft is an insidious crime – its victims are often unaware they’ve been robbed until days or weeks later when they are hit with credit card bills for mysterious purchases made by criminal impersonators. Identity theft results in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to unsuspecting victims and businesses, and victims may have to spend countless hours just to get their lives back in order. As [these] arrests demonstrate, we hold no quarter for the alleged perpetrators of these crimes and will work with our state and federal law enforcement partners to bring them to justice.”

According to court documents, since the ring’s inception in 2008 or earlier, Smith allegedly obtained stolen identities, including the names and social security numbers of legitimate account holders at large retail chains.

After obtaining the stolen identities, Smith called the customer service numbers at the retail stores to confirm that the victims had credit accounts and to determine the available credit limit. Once that information had been obtained Smith had a fake driver’s license in the name of the account holder made (allegedly from the Hussein brothers) but with photos of the individuals who would impersonate them at retail outlets.

As alleged, Smith drove Morton, one of his co-defendants, to retail stores throughout New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, where she charged expensive merchandise and gift cards to victims’ accounts. Morton would tell the checkout clerks that she had forgotten her store credit card and home but would offer the fake driver’s license and the victim’s social security number as proof of identity.

Smith then allegedly drove Morton to branches of the retailers in other locations where she returned the fraudulently acquire merchandise for store credits. Then, the credits were sold to other members of the ring, including Hidalgo and White, for approximately 60 percent of their face value. In turn, the items were then resold for usually 70 percent of their face value.

During the investigation, court-authorized wiretaps were used to intercept telephone calls between the defendants. In some of the calls, Smith and Morton speak in code about the fake driver’s licenses and the victims whose store accounts they planned to target. In a separate call, Smith warned White that the fraudulently obtained Sears store credits had to be used “right away,” because otherwise “they [would] go bad.”

In other calls, Smith arranged to sell Home Depot store credit to Hidalgo for approximately 60% of the face value, and Hidalgo in turn allegedly found contracting businesses to buy the fraudulently-obtained store credits in return for cash. In still other calls, the Hussein brothers discussed the fake driver’s licenses they manufactured.

The Complaint charges Smith, Morton, Hidalgo and White with conspiracy to commit access device fraud, which carries a maximum term of five years in prison. The Complaint also charges Smith, Morton and the Hussein brothers with a separate conspiracy to produce fake driver’s licenses, which carries a maximum term of 15 years in prison. Smith and Morton are additionally charged with aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year sentence if convicted – Source.

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Friday The 13th: Unlucky For Fraudsters, Lucky For Potential Victims

Amanda Miller — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:48:50 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Those that are superstitious often view Friday the 13th as an unlucky day. This past friday, January 13th, members of an identity theft ring received some unlucky news when they were sentenced to prison. Contrary to superstition, this was a very lucky day for future victims that could have fallen into their web of lies and deceit.

Two men, Richard Gaylon Conaster and Geoffrey Michael Wentzel, along with other conspirators were sentenced to prison after using personal information of dozens of victims to obtain fraudulent credit cards. Conaster and Wentzel both previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft and were charged with 124 and 65 months without parole, respectively.

Officers with the Houston Police Department (HPD) arrested Conatser and Wentzel at Wentzel’s home in October of 2010. Officers had recognized Conatser from the surveillance video of a Best Buy, where items had been purchased using a credit card obtained in the name of a victim.

At the home, police seized multiple laptop computers, flash drives, laminating machines, credit card magnet readers and other equipment used to make fraudulent forms of identification. Police also discovered the personal identification information of dozens of victims on the laptop computer and in credit applications from Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating, which were also seized during a search of Wentzel’s house. Wentzel is a former employee of Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating.

Conatser and Wentzel used the personal information and fraudulent forms of identification to open credit accounts in the names of at least 45 different individuals at more than a dozen different retail stores in the Houston and Dallas areas, including Kohls, Sears, Dillard’s, Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops.

After being approved for credit in the victims’ names, Conatser, Bird and other conspirators purchased thousands of dollars of merchandise, often being captured on video surveillance in the process. In some cases, Conatser then sold the fraudulently-purchased items to Wentzel, who in turn sold the items within days using his eBay account.

Law enforcement agents connected Conatser and Wentzel to Bird, who was previously arrested in July of 2010, during a traffic stop in Coppell, Texas. Police in Coppell discovered several items related to identity theft in Bird’s vehicle and a hotel room where Bird and other conspirators were staying. Among the items discovered by police were fraudulent identifications and other person information belonging to victims whose information was later discovered at Wentzel’s home.

In addition to their sentences, the two men were ordered to serve supervised release terms of three years following their release from federal prison. They were also ordered to pay restitution to victims totaling $142,197.88 – Source.

If you have been scammed and would like to file a scam report, please click here.

McDonald’s Manager Selling Stolen US Citizen Identities To Employees

Amanda Miller — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:09 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

A former manager of a McDonald’s restaurant in Savannah, Georgia was sentenced last month to 32 months in prison for her role in a scheme to sell the stolen identities of United States citizens to employees within the McDonald’s restaurant chain.

The former McDonald’s manager, Eva Ramos’, guilty plea and sentencing hearings revealed that Ramos, with the assistance of others, knowingly provided the identities of United States citizens to illegal aliens applying for work at Savannah area McDonald’s restaurants. Ramos sold some of the identities for a profit.

In addition to Ramos’ 32 month sentence she has also been ordered to pay a fine of $1,5000 and has to serve 3 years supervised release.

United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver said, “Our office will work with our federal partners to protect unknowing United States citizens against identity theft which is a rapidly growing problem across our country. Victims of identity fraud suffer a great deal and the effects of such fraud can be long-lasting.” – Source.

Ba-Da-Ba-Ba-Ba …. I’m scammin’ it!

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Newspaper Deliveryman Makes Amanda Miller’s List Of “People I Wouldn’t Suspect Of Fraud”

Amanda Miller — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:19:36 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Amanda Miller’s list of “People I Wouldn’t Suspect of Fraud” just keeps on growing week in and week out! Amongst the already listed TSA employee, postal carrier, United Nations employee and firefighter I now introduce to the list: a newspaper deliveryman.

A guilty plea was announced last week by Andre Tyler, a Maryland newspaper deliveryman, to unauthorized use of an access device and aggravated identity theft.

According to his plea, Tyler was a newspaper deliveryman for WilCan Services, a delivery contractor for a Washington newspaper, whose route included addresses in the Damascus/Laytonsville area of Montgomery County, mainly off Route 108 in Maryland. From December 2010 until his arrest on May 19, 2011, Tyler occasionally took mail from mailboxes along his route, kept the credit cards and threw the other mail away. Tyler would attempt to activate the stolen credit cards and if successful, use the cards for his personal benefit until they stopped working.

On at least one occasion, after the credit card company had suspended the stolen card Tyler called the company claiming to be the account holder and succeeded in having the card re-activated.

The total loss as a result of Tyler’s fraudulent use of the access devices was between $5,000 and $10,000.

Tyler faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for the unauthorized use of access devices and a mandatory two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft. Chief U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow has scheduled sentencing for January 30, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. – Source.

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How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » identity

Elaborate Scheme Leaves 180 With Over $1 Million In Fraudulent Purchases

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Friday The 13th: Unlucky For Fraudsters, Lucky For Potential Victims

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McDonald’s Manager Selling Stolen US Citizen Identities To Employees

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