Category Archives: Identity Theft

Illegal immigrants got fake IDs from Massachusetts motor vehicle workers, feds say

Posted on August 3, 2017 | Comments Off on Illegal immigrants got fake IDs from Massachusetts motor vehicle workers, feds say

The scheme would work like this, according to investigators: Flako, working as a document dealer, would sell a Puerto Rican birth certificate and U.S. Social Security card to Brea, the document vendor, for around $900. Brea would then allegedly sell the stolen identities for more than $2,000 to people looking for valid IDs in the state of Massachusetts.

Four employees with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) have been accused of producing fake IDs for illegal immigrants in exchange for cash.

In October 2015, state police received an anonymous letter alleging that a corrupt RMV clerk was selling stolen identifications and drivers’ licenses, according to the Justice Department.

After investigating, authorities found that a number of RMV clerks, along with outsiders, operated an identity theft scheme and arrested six people on Wednesday.

The clerks accused in the case include Evelyn Medina, 56, Annette Gracia, 37, David Brimage, 46, all of Boston, and Kimberly Jordan, 33, of Randolph.

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Posted in Identity Theft, Immigration, Law & Courts

Foreign Nationals Plead Guilty to Major Identity Theft

Posted on April 13, 2017 | Comments Off on Foreign Nationals Plead Guilty to Major Identity Theft

The last of five defendants, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a multi-million dollar credit card fraud and identity theft scheme in federal district court in Los Angeles Tuesday.

The stolen credit cards, numbering into the hundreds according to court documents, were used to make cash withdrawals, purchase money orders, and buy expensive goods that were later resold for cash.

According to documents from the FBI investigation that led to their arrests, the defendants received the stolen card information from hackers authorities believe are operating in Russia. Some of America’s most sensitive industries were hit in the three separate cyberattacks that yielded these cards, including an airline and multiple healthcare administrators. The attacks took place in 2014-2016 and the information stolen has been linked to other major fraud schemes. In all, authorities estimate total losses at $5 million. According to the Department of Justice, one American company went out of business as result of the fraud.

Russian Nationals Irina Fedoseeva, Timur Safin, Dmitry Fedoseev, and Kristina Gerasimova, along with Belorussian Siarhei Patapau, have now all agreed to guilty pleas from their involvement in the scam. All will now be sentenced in June and September by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson for felony identity theft and fraud. The maximum sentences for each defendant range from five to twelve years in federal prison.

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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/12/foreign-nationals-plead-guilty-to-major-identity-theft/

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Posted in Identity Theft, Law & Courts

Illegal Aliens Busted For Stolen Credit Card Spending Spree

Posted on December 4, 2016 | Comments Off on Illegal Aliens Busted For Stolen Credit Card Spending Spree

Three Cuban illegal immigrants were arrested after utilizing stolen credit cards and racking up thousands of dollars worth of charges on them.

Two other suspects are still at large.

Lazaro Abrahan Diaz Manso, Herrera Ruiz, and Rafael Alvarez Esmori Yusmani were arrested after a Nitro Walmart employee said they witnessed the men purchasing gift cards with the stole credit cards. The suspects had been seen earlier in the week using the cards, and when the employees recognized them from their earlier visit, they called the police.

Major Dave Richardson of the Nitro West Virginia Police department, has stated that there are more than 180 victims of this crime resulting in several thousands of dollars in damages, and that these numbers could continue to rise as the investigation proceeds.

Also, the crimes are not limited to Nitro as charges have been identified in Charleston, Hurricane, Morgantown, Fairmont and Bridgeport. They’ve also found fraudulent charges other states such as in Maryland and possibly Ohio.

While officials have stated that the men are here illegally from Cuba, no information has been released on how they arrived in the United States.

The investigation is ongoing and Nitro police have teamed up with gift card companies to aid in their search for more malicious activity in relation to the credit card fraud ring.

Officials are still searching for the two remaining suspects, but do not have a description. They were last seen driving a black Chrysler 300.

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Posted in Crime, Identity Theft, Immigration, Law & Courts

5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts (Video)

Posted on September 9, 2016 | Comments Off on 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts (Video)

Everyone hates paying bank fees. But imagine paying fees on a ghost account you didn’t even sign up for.

That’s exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide.

On Thursday, federal regulators said Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts — without their customers knowing it — since 2011.

The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures and make more money.

“Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses,” Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.

Wells Fargo confirmed to CNNMoney that it had fired 5,300 employees over the last few years related to the shady behavior. Employees went so far as to create phony PIN numbers and fake email addresses to enroll customers in online banking services, the CFPB said.

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Posted in Business, Fraud, Identity Theft

Over 1 Million Social Security Numbers Stolen in the Last 5 Years (Video)

Posted on September 1, 2016 | Comments Off on Over 1 Million Social Security Numbers Stolen in the Last 5 Years (Video)

A new report found that IRS officials knew that more than 1 million Social Security numbers were stolen in the past five years, but the tax-collecting agency failed to notify the victims.

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Posted in Fraud, Identity Theft, Immigration, Tax

Massive police bust targets Fresno gang, mostly for financial & sex crimes (Video)

Posted on April 24, 2016 | Comments Off on Massive police bust targets Fresno gang, mostly for financial & sex crimes (Video)

Prosecutors say the main crimes were financial: Prostitution, human trafficking, identity theft, and credit card fraud to the tune of more than $30,000 a week in profits for each of the leaders. The leaders were living the high life, but not off the drug trade.

A massive and mostly secretive operation has taken down one of Fresno’s most powerful gangs. More than 400 law enforcement officers served warrants Thursday in two states, but mostly here in the Central Valley.

Police chief Jerry Dyer says the southwest Fresno gang funded its violence with several leaders each banking more than $1.5 million a year from sex trafficking. The investigation to take them down started 15 months ago and at the time, he only let eight people know about it.

For a decade, Fresno police took a traditional approach to handling gangs in southwest Fresno: Occasional crackdowns to deal with outbursts of violence, and a focus on street crimes like drug sales. But it never got investigators to the head of one gang in particular. So 15 months ago, the approach changed.

“Today marks the culmination of the largest, most impactful gang operation in the history of the city of Fresno,” Dyer said Thursday.

The chief says the gang had 200 members. Police arrested 29 of them Thursday on charges including racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder. Wiretaps revealed the leadership and also may have prevented violence. Dyer says they caught plans for five shootings, but police intercepted the shooters.

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Posted in Fraud, Gangs, Identity Theft, Law & Courts, Sex Crimes

Rampant Fraud: Government Tax Agencies Overwhelmed By Identity Thieves (Video)

Posted on April 20, 2016 | Comments Off on Rampant Fraud: Government Tax Agencies Overwhelmed By Identity Thieves (Video)

“It’s happening to every state around the country,” he said.

As tax day looms for American taxpayers on Monday, one state comptroller is struggling to figure out what to do with thousands of fraudulent tax returns submitted by identity thieves.

“I have 50,000 fraudulent returns sitting on my desk. I have no subpoena power. I have no investigatory powers as far as those fraudulent returns,” Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot told WBAL Radio last week.

Maryland is not the only state tackling fraudulent returns.

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Posted in Fraud, Identity Theft, Law & Courts, Tax

IRS chief: Agency encourages illegal immigrant theft of SSNs to file tax returns

Posted on April 13, 2016 | Comments Off on IRS chief: Agency encourages illegal immigrant theft of SSNs to file tax returns

The IRS is struggling to ensure that illegal immigrants are able to illegally use Social Security numbers for legitimate purposes, the agency’s head told senators on Tuesday, without allowing the numbers to be used for “bad” reasons.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen made the statement in response to a question from Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., during a session of the Senate Finance Committee about why the IRS appears to be collaborating with taxpayers who file tax returns using fraudulent information. Coats said that his staff had discovered the practice after looking into agency procedures.

“What we learned is that … the IRS continues to process tax returns with false W-2 information and issue refunds as if they were routine tax returns, and say that’s not really our job,” Coats said. “We also learned the IRS ignores notifications from the Social Security Administration that a name does not match a Social Security number, and you use your own system to determine whether a number is valid.”

Asked to explain those practices, Koskinen replied, “What happens in these situations is someone is using a Social Security number to get a job, but they’re filing their tax return with their [taxpayer identification number].” What that means, he said, is that “they are undocumented aliens … . They’re paying taxes. It’s in everybody’s interest to have them pay the taxes they owe.”

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Posted in Fraud, Identity Theft, Immigration, Tax

Police Arrest Mexican Immigrant for Stealing Hundreds of Americans’ IDs

Posted on October 31, 2015 | Comments Off on Police Arrest Mexican Immigrant for Stealing Hundreds of Americans’ IDs

Texas police are holding Mexican immigrant Rodrigo Rodriguez, after multiple law enforcement agencies tracked him down and a search of his apartment revealed “141 Social Security cards, 110 birth certificates, 18 Texas ID cards, 11 Texas driver’s license, 3 tampered birth certificates, 1 marriage license and 1 Mexico ID card,” according to KRGV.com.

“Police also found tools including a magnifying glass, scalpels, razor blades and erasers,” continued KRGV.com. “They said they believe the tools were used to change information on social security cards. They also found more than $8,000 in cash.”

Rodriguez planned to alter the cards, police said. They’re searching for a second suspect who may have helped Rodriguez burglarize victims’ cars.

Immigrants from countries such as Mexico often engage in rampant, aggressive identity theft. In an exhaustive report, the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) documented how immigrants, particularly “undocumented” illegal aliens, commit multiple felonies while forging documents, tax forms, and stealing Americans’ identities.

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Posted in Identity Theft, Immigration, Law & Courts

Massive driver’s license fraud uncovered at local DMV (Video)

Posted on April 25, 2015 | Comments Off on Massive driver’s license fraud uncovered at local DMV (Video)

“Clearly, the federal immigration system is broken, and that leaves state and local officials holding the bag, so to speak,” Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said when he was asked if the driver’s licenses were for people in the country illegally.

A driver’s license examiner is accused of taking bribes to make driver’s licenses for people who could not legally obtain them.

Johnson County investigators said Samantha Moore, 28, worked at the license office in Mission. She is accused of taking $2,500 each to make licenses for dozens of people.

“That was the purpose of this conspiracy — to allow people who would not be able to get a driver’s license to obtain one,” Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said.

Moore is in the Johnson County Jail and faces 51 felonies. Howe said the scheme has impacted the entire region.

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Posted in Fraud, Identity Theft, Law & Courts