The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced yesterday that 15 people were arrested on charges including grand larceny in connection with an identity-theft ring. Prosecutors say that the crime ring stole more than $700,000 in an overly elaborate and complicated scheme, involving (but not limited to): An old-timey band of pick-pockets, futuristic identity theft, and of course, costumes.
A couple more details and one sexy photo have emerged regarding the 25-year-old former Chase Bank financial adviser accused of siphoning over $100K from a millionaire's private account. While Robin Katz sits in Rikers Island on $50,000 bail, the Post is drawing from a bountiful stash of photos yanked from Katz's MySpace page. (It's unclear whether the Post grabbed the snapshots before Katz pulled her profile or if the tabloid's shared membership in the Murdoch family of companies yielded extra access.) A police source says that after arresting Katz, investigators found an ATM card and four withdrawal receipts connected to the account of Wall Street broker Dorone Ilan Farber. Auditors say Katz created the extra ATM card in Farber's name, making dozens of withdrawals from his account. Police think she used the money for shopping and partying, but a tipster claiming to be a friend of Katz's since 2005 tells us she saved up enough to put a down payment on a house!
A Brooklyn resident walking his dogs on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill found files containing the personal information—including Social Security numbers and other confidential information—of hundreds of people. Luckily, he called WABC 7 Eyewitness News; Nat Hendricks explained, "The first one, I saw a person's name and address and date of birth, social security number and I closed the file." Eyewitness News found out the files were from a lawyer who had moved out of his office; the lawyer left the files, so his landlord just dumped them on the street! The common thread found was the name of the lawyer, Neda Imasuen, whose registration status is delinquent; Imasuen's landlord admitted he put the boxes on the street on Saturday and claims he scheduled them to be picked up on Sunday. Lawyers are supposed to be responsible for properly getting rid of files; identity theft experts suggest that clients ask their lawyers how their files are destroyed—or to request them back. And now the Attorney General's office is investigating, too.
The Queens DA's office and NYPD announced that they broke up an international major identity theft and credit card ring. The scam, which cost individuals and banks $15 million, has roots in—wait for it—Nigeria, involved the suspects using "spoofing" technology. The suspects would call credit card companies, masked their voices, and were able to "spoof" the companies into thinking they were calling from the cardholder's actual phone number, allowing them to change PIN numbers, order new cards and increase credit lines. Then they would buy expensive items, take out cash, or sell the cards to foreign buyers. The Daily News reports, "The scam was discovered nearly two years ago when a Queens Realtor opened a package meant for one of his employees and found 60 credit cards - the type 'normally issued in anticipation of a customer's card expiring,' [Police Commissioner] Kelly said."
Before there was hipster grifter Kari Ferrell, there was Esther Elizabeth Reed, the grifter. Reed faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. She claimed to be a chess champion (a boyfriend's father became suspicious when she didn't know what an opening gambit was) and was suspected of being a spy (she kept dating West Point cadets!). But when Reed, under the name "Brooke Henson," applied for a job as a housekeeper in Manhattan, her employer did a background check and she went on the lam (she left everything except her combs and toothbrush—things that would have her DNA). 48 Hours Mystery interviewed Reed, who said, "I planned on being Brooke Henson for the rest of my life... I'm going to create an identity. I didn’t think I could get into any trouble for that." She was eventually found a year and a half in Chicago; when the cops found her, she recalled, "It was overwhelming. There was absolute panic and I said, 'I'm Esther Reed.'" Reed, who had $100,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card debt, claims she would have paid it all back.
A lower Manhattan law firm is in hot water today after a Daily News reporter stumbled upon six dumpsters on the sidewalk behind their office piled with confidential documents. The files tossed out by Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon mostly dated back to the 1990s and included addresses, medical records and Social Security numbers for clients. Passers-by were observed digging through the documents, and former clients of the law firm were appalled when the Daily News rang them up, using the personal information from the files. One 62-year-old woman who sued her landlord in 1997 was shocked to learn that her Social Security number, medical records and contact information were in the trash: "I don't let nobody have my Social Security number. Now I don't know who else has my papers. They should be held accountable. That's why they have shredders." A partner at the firm says the documents were discarded as they prepare to change offices, and blames the "licensed and bonded company" they hired to dispose of everything in a proper manner. Sounds like they went with the same company that tossed Citi Habitats clients' confidential documents out on the street in January.
It's a Citi Habitats client's worst nightmare—and a dream come true for identity thieves. WABC 7's Eyewitness News discovered "Scores of documents"—driver's licenses, credit reports—"were found strewn on the street for anyone to pick up." Told of finding her info on the street, one woman said, "Just in the gutter? My life was in the gutter. That's nice" Though businesses are required to shred such sensitive material, Citi Habitats' West 82nd and Columbus location "accidentally" left 2006-2007 client documents on the street during renovations, and a statement said, "We took immediate steps. to investigate and remediate this isolated incident, and are notifying those customers whose information may have been compromised." But WABC 7 found in spite of Citi Habitats' "remediation," "We were still finding documents a block away a full eight hours after the clean up was over."
The Queens DA's office says an Astoria landlord apparently stole his tenant's identity in order to rack up $50,000 worth of purchases. The Daily News says Jorgji Glekas went to the police after getting bills from credit card "accounts she hadn't opened - then grew suspicious when [landlord Phivos] Ioannou asked if she had received any mail that didn't belong to her." Ioannou used his tenant's name and Social security number to buy numerous items, including a BMW (with a $32,000 loan) on a Visa with Glekas's name. (He even reportedly Ioannou made one payment on the car, with a check signed by "Ioannou Phivos.") The landlord, who denies the charges, faces 15 years in prison if found guilty. Here are identity theft prevention tips (PDF) from the NYPD.
This is any credit (or debit) card user's worst nightmare: Dan Kaufman, who manages Blue Pig ice cream, Oven pizza, Busy Chef and Wine Bar in Brooklyn Heights, was arrested for taking $25,000 from customers' credit cards. According to the Post, Kaufman would take "credit card slips from Wine Bar and Oven, and then ran them through again at his Busy Chef stores and an outlet on Court Street, pocketing the dough." Kaufman surrendered yesterday and Brooklyn Heights Blog reports the charges include various counts of identity theft and grand larceny. And remember: ALWAYS check your credit card statements.
Police have rounded up 38 people accused of running a credit card fraud ring out of Queens for almost a decade. Officials say hackers in China and Ukraine have been breaking into the databases of major U.S. department stores, and then sending the credit card information of thousands of shoppers to the ringleader, Kwok Chow, 36, a Flushing resident known as “Tony.”
Last year, the federal authorities had been looking for Esther Elizabeth Reed, a woman who faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. Reed was on the lam, but this past weekend's murders at a mall outside Chicago led the police to Reed, who had been living in the very same town the killings occurred.
Last November, Natavia Lowery's friends and family were screaming her innocence, but recently some pretty damning evidence came out about her relationship with Linda Stein, the woman she is accused of (and confessed to) murdering.
Linda Stein's daughter says that her mother had been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and was, according to the Daily News, "taking medication that caused severe mood swings." Stein was found bludgeoned to death on October 30, and her personal assistant Natavia Lowery was arrested for her murder on Friday. Samantha Stein-Wells said, "My mother didn't deserve this.... They had just found a brain tumor a couple of weeks before she was killed. Everyone...
Yesterday, the police arrested the personal assistant to "broker to the stars" Linda Stein in connection with Stein's October 30 murder. Stein, who had also managed the Ramones and later parlayed her connections to sell real estate to celebrities, had been found bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment by her daughter. The police revealed that assistant Natavia Lowery confessed to them that Stein's abuse pushed her over the edge. Police Commissioner Ray...
There's finally been an arrest in the murder of Linda Stein. Yesterday it was reported that the police were interested in re-interviewing Stein's assistant, Brooklyn resident Natavia Lowery, who has a shady past involving identity theft. So it's not all that surprising that today the NYPD announced Lowery has been taken into custody. They found the 26-year old in Virginia Beach, apparently visiting her boyfriend.Police spokesman Paul Browne said Lowery "made statements implicating herself" in...
If you're applying for a mortgage, you're willing to give up your personal details. Unfortunately, for some first-time applicants, their mortgage manager stole their identities - and $1 million.
With all the news of identity theft, of course it would have to hit couples who are getting married. The Post has an alarming story about a number of couples who, when applying for a marriage license, have found themselves already "married." It's believed that thieves use other people's identities to get marriage licenses and green cards. Denise Daskalkis "filed two appeals, multiple petitions, and attended a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings," calling the two-year process hell while a Laura Berrios was "denied a domestic partnership with her lesbian lover because she had supposedly been married - to a man - for a decade." Berrios dryly said to the Post, "I've been out of the closet since I was 16. Trust me, I never have and never will get married [to a man]."
The laptop of a private consultant for the Financial Information Services Agency was stolen from a restaurant last night. The stolen computer could contain the personal financial information of as many as 280,000 retired city employees and the obvious concern is that the information could fall into the hands of identity thieves. The Daily News reports that the data could possibly include the names, address, social security numbers, and pension information of thousands of retirees.
A man who posed as a police officer in Suffolk County and NYC has been indicted on 54 counts, from first-degree rape to fraud. Twenty-four year-old Terry Henry was held without bail, and one law enforcement source called him a "serial killer in the making."
There is nothing like the ratings sweeps seasons on the local news. Thankfully, not all the stations go for the overly sensational stories and will present something that is really worthy of your time. There were many stories, like a day in the life of a paparazzi and part 99,991,047 in the saga of the dangers of myspace.com, but we'll take a look at a three noteworthy sweeps stories from last week.
A look at some noteworthy television this week:
The Manhattan DA's office announced that thirteen people were indicted in a identity theft scam. Credit card information from diners in Chinatown and other areas (Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island, Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut) would be stolen by wait staff, using handheld credit card skimmers. A list of restaurants where the scam took place was not released.
When David Clarke of Queens received information from a bank about a $180,000 second mortgage on his Rosedale house - a mortgage he never applied for - he decided to contact the police. And Queens authorities found a Brooklyn couple who had been using Clarke's identity to buy a home in Long Island. Yesterday, the Queens D.A.'s office charged Emerick and Donna Martin with identity theft, second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud and much more for scams that totaled $1 million. Here are the crazy details from the Queens D.A.'s press release:
District Attorney Brown said that, according to the charges, the defendants took out two mortgages, totaling $1,123,000, on a residence located at 266 Pine Acres Boulevard in Dix Hills, Long Island, using the name and social security number of the victim, David Clarke. Thereafter, on December 19, 2006, it is charged, the defendants, posing as David Clarke and Donna Clarke, and a third unapprehended individual, went to a Westbury, Long Island, mortgage broker and requested a second mortgage of $180,000 on the real Mr. Clarke’s Rosedale property. At the mortgage closing on January 11, 2007, the defendants allegedly presented a forged driver’s license in the name of David Clarke and completed the paperwork by supplying the actual loan number, job information, telephone number and addresses of the real Mr. Clarke.Now, not that thieves are smart, but didn't they realize they might be discovered since the real Clarke could easily be contacted? Or were they betting on the general bureaucracy of banks to shield them.
Did you act quickly enough to get Donald Trump's social security number yesterday? The New York Department of State had posted commercial loan documents online that was meant to let lenders view the financial status of loan applicants. The problem was that anyone could search the site and social security numbers were associated with names, including the Donald's. Yikes, the identity theft possibilities were yooge!
It's Law & Order: Concerned-Child- Who-is-a- Police-Officer Squad! An identity theft ring that targeted the elderly or people with "foreign-sounding" names was busted when a scammer called an old man, only to speak to an NYPD deputy chief - the man's daughter. Eleven people were indicted in Queens for duping people into giving up their credit card number, Social Security number, and other personal details. They would randomly call people, and one of the people they called was Deputy Chief Joellen Kunkel's father. According to the Sun, they called twice, leaving messages, "before Chief Kunkel finally called a phone number left by one of the supposed federal agents to demand that he identify himself." And the Daily News had their exchange:
"He kept saying, 'I'm a fed. I'm Homeland Security. I'm a fed,'" Deputy NYPD Chief Joellen (Cookie) Kunkel said yesterday of the phone call she received from the scammers last May. "And I said, 'I happen to be a chief in the New York City Police Department and I don't know who you are.'Continue reading "Identity Theft Ring's Number Was Up"
For the "Too Good to Be True, So It's Just Not True" file: The NY Times reports that 23 year old Daniel Markovitz "told people that he could get their parking fines reduced, saying that he knew someone in the Parking Violations Bureau or that he worked for a Web site that helped adjudicate tickets." Markovitz collected up to $780 from each person and did pay off fines for 53 parking tickets (which totaled $4,700). Except he used stolen credit cards to do so and making a profit of $2,000.
Actual New York apartments will provide the setting for something called "The Sublet Experiment". The play, a romantic comedy, will take place in a different subletted apartment each weekend - instead of a regular 'ol theater.
Mayor Bloomberg released the 2006 Fiscal Year Mayor's Management Report yesterday. The MMR is the Mayor's way of being accountable for city initiatives and agencies, and during the press conference, the Mayor felt that there was still work to be done, saying, "Two-thirds of the things are going in the right direction. A third aren't going as fast as I'd like, or in the right direction.": Like what? The quality of streets has declined (which the Department of Transportation says is due to construction projects), the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 16% more complaints about police officers, structural fire response times increased and pest control exterminations dropped by 39%.
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