Not everyone losing their shirts these days can blame it on the market collapse; some unlucky investors have broker Michael Axel to blame. Despite his totally boss name, Axel was definitely not the guy to trust with your savings. And he's (allegedly) living proof that people do actually fall for that overseas e-mail scam, whereby someone you don't know, usually residing in Africa, e-mails you with some ridiculous offer that, to paraphrase Michael McDonald, only......

That Saks is den of thieves! First a jewelry saleswomen is accused of bilking the store over $1 million, then a suit salesmen is arrested for stealing from office buildings, now a "public-relations finance manager" has been arrested on charges she stole more than $680,000 from the department store. 52-year-old Ava John's job required her to pay outside vendors hired by Saks for special events at the store. According to the Daily News, John allegedly......

More details have emerged in that “magic MetroCard machine” story the Post broke yesterday. Turns out it that it wasn’t a MetroCard machine, but a LIRR ticket machine (which also dispenses MetroCards). And make that machines; the Times reports that from 2004 until last May, countless people have unwittingly used the machines to get free tickets and MetroCards, exploiting a software glitch that let riders with insufficient funds on their debit card or credit card......

A trio of grifters allegedly bilked the MTA out of $800,000 over the past three years by exploiting a software glitch in a single MetroCard machine in Penn Station. According to the Post, police have arrested a Roosevelt, Long Island resident named Cary Grant (ha), his wife Lisa Foster Jordan, and their friend Christopher Clemente, a former student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School whose scholastic career ended in 1990 when he was convicted......

Remember: If the offer is too good to be true and it's on Craigslist, it very well might not be true. The police have arrested a group of young men for robbing thousands of dollars from people responding to a Craigslist ad, with the sweet deal of about 10 iPhones for $2,000. The Sun reports that the group would tell potential buyers to meet them on various East Flatbush street corners, with the cash, of......

The Tony Awards are happening Sunday night, people! Who’s excited? Pretty much nobody, right? No surprise there, especially considering that a phenomenal show like Passing Strange has been playing to half-full houses. But what’s really ridiculous is that even the people who are tasked with voting for the Tony winners can’t be bothered to sit through these shows! As Jeremy Gerard reports on Bloomberg.com, a spectacular number of the 797 voters will cast votes without......

Just how much are Sex and the City fans willing to pay for The Ultimate movie-going experience? The NY Post reports that one woman laid down $19,000 for a seat at tonight's premiere, only to find out she'd been scammed. Ella Sherman, who flew in from Singapore for the big night, will still get a seat at the premiere thanks to New Line Cinemas, but, you see, "It was the after-party that was the big......

A real estate developer with close religious and social ties to the Lubavitcher Hasidim community managed to swindle 40 families out of their homes in what the Daily News describes as one of the biggest scams of the recent housing crisis. Eliyahu Ezagui sold pre-construction homes to 40 different families in Crown Heights, and years after the buildings were in place and the families moved in, he took out mortgages on the condos and left......

About a year ago, Village Voice restaurant critic Robert Sietsema attended a taping of Iron Chef America at the Food Network's Chelsea studios. Thanks to a friend's invite, the Food Network had no idea he was watching and waiting to blow the cover off the whole phony operation once the episode finally aired. Now Sietsema is here to report that the series is “more bogus than even I had imagined.” How bogus is it? Well,......

A con artist has been using Craigslist to scam gullible apartment seekers out of hundreds of dollars, according to the Daily News. Nothing new here, except this time the scheme so sketchy it’s hard to feel too sorry for the victims. Using the alias JoAnn Rinaggio, a compulsive check bouncer named JoAnne Smith has been posting listings for a fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This amazing place can be yours......

It's one thing to believe the the supernatural. It's another to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a storefront psychic. But that's what happened to a stock trader when he came into contact with Tammy Mitchell, who ran a fortune telling business in Midtown. The Post calls the victim, Douglas Lonneker, a "free-spirited, successful entrepreneur from tony Wilson, Wyo." Apparently last year he visited Mitchell at her East 32nd Street storefront, where she told......

A man posing as Heath Ledger's father managed to get free hotel rooms and talk to Tom Cruise and John Travolta after the actor's death last week. The Post reports the "twisted impostor" got Tom Cruise to console him on the phone and almost "got John Travolta to buy him a plane ticket to the United States." Why does this sound like a radio shock jock prank? With Ledger's father Kim (pictured) rumored to arrive......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: serious trauma on 51st St. in Brooklyn, a missing person on 90th St. and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, and a large fight at 1087 Broadway in Brooklyn. A Brooklyn high school student was stabbed to death yesterday after school. The fatal injury occurred as he was attempting to rob another kid on a playground. Don Imus will be returning to the air with a "sidekick," who is black. The......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a foot pursuit on West 50th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a missing person on West 110th St. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Grove St. and Seneca Ave. in Queens. The 57-year-old man shot to death by a federal agent during a grenade sting this week was a career criminal. Authorities believe the proposed sale of what turned out to be an inert grenade was probably just an......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Fatal jumper on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, a MOS (member of service) bitten by a dog at 48-36 47 Street in Queens, and a car vs. a building at West 27th Street in Manhattan. A-Rod may stick with the Yankees in a last-minute windfall deal that may be worth worth $280 million. Ira Levin, the author of "Rosemary's Baby," "The Boys From Brazil," and "The Stepford Wives" passed away......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial collapse on West 123rd St. in Manhattan, an unusual trauma at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and a shooting at Bergen St. and Buffalo Ave. in Brooklyn. The 7 train line was shut down for about two hours this afternoon after power to a number of signals failed. Service was back up by 4 p.m. AMNewYork looks at Rudy Giuliani's tendency to take phone calls......

One of the defendants accused of murdering Michael Sandy as part of a hate crime a year ago is now claiming that he is innocent because he himself is a gay man. Michael Fortunato is on trial for the murder of Michael Sandy after he and three friends arranged to meet him in a secluded spot in Sheepshead Bay for a gay tryst. Instead, they ambushed the 29-year-old Williamsburg man who, fleeing his attackers, ran......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Airmail in Brooklyn, truck vs train overpass in 31st St & 20th Ave in Queens, an amputation at Grant St & St Pauls Ave in Staten Island and a bomb scare at Broadway and Mercer (NYU) in Manhattan. A former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani is now an "ambassador" for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. But it's not that shocking, since Fran Reiter had lead the Liberal Party before joining......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Today, the NY Times had some advice for incoming first years to the city's colleges. They were:- Don’t fall asleep on the subway. - Don’t drink too much beer and use the street as a toilet. - Don’t ask a cabbie (or anyone else) to take you to “HUGH-ston” Street. - Don’t play chess for money with the hustlers in Washington Square Park. - Don’t try to swim in the river. - Don’t count......

John Vanderslice's reputation as "the nicest guy in indie rock" couldn't be more spot on. Last night we enjoyed some time with him on the roof of the Hotel Chelsea where he sang us a 'lil song. You'll be seeing video of that later, but first - get to know the man behind the reputation. He'll be at Sound Fix tonight at 7pm for a free show, and he was also kind enough to provide......

There's a new dimension to the murder-suicide of a Bronx cop and his girlfriend. Fred Maselli, who police say shot himself after killing his girlfriend Shirley Fontanez, may have been involved in a check-cashing scam with Fontanez. The Post reports that 40-year-old Maselli may have supplied Fontanez with fake stolen checks. Fontanez, who was either 18 or 19, would cash them at her work - a check-cashing establishment in Paterson, NJ. Rivera Check Cashing fired......

A Manhattan company called EMH Group LLC that auctioned jewelry over eBay.com under the name Jewelry by Ezra agreed to a $400,000 settlelement of charges that it engaged in a practice known as shill bidding. That practice involves fakes bids being used to drive up the prices of auctioned items. WNBC is reporting that the jeweler was instructing its employees to secretly bid on items their employer was selling, so that the end sale price......

There's a story in today's Times that should be a reminder to everyone that shredding documents is not a chore but a duty. An "About New York" column by Jim Dwyer tackles the tale of a man accused of being a deadbeat dad (it's Times Select, so maybe grab the Metro section from somewhere or use your college email). Mike Shaieb, a film and TV music composer, received a letter from the city demanding that......

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." Henry was initially arrested for impersonating a police officer and stealing his landlord's car earlier this year, but investigators found that he used realistic police gear and a car with......

A semi-brilliant scheme to fool a health insurance provider by claiming 20 fake brain surgeries has been busted by the federal prosecutors. A group of people scammed Group Health Insurance out of over $300,000 over four years. Most notably, city employee Stanley Canella claimed he, his wife and four sons had nine brain surgeries during that time. The NY Times says it's unclear whether it's the "nine operations" that "piqued the interest of federal investigators"......

The new legislation reform bill that no one is very happy with has raised many questions about its effect on the city. Mayor Bloomberg said that the bill is a good first step, but called the provision where immigrants would go back to their native country "a joke," saying, "Nobody’s going to go home for a year and come back. Nobody could ever enforce that. Nobody in their right mind would ever try to do......

Seems like the Hotel Chelsea residents have long been at battle with the clubs that open in the basement of the building. This used to be the case with Serena (which was owned by Anna Wintour's stepson/Minnie Driver's cousin) and now with Star Lounge (which has opened in its place). The basement lounges seem to draw a posh crowd that's the antithesis of who the Hotel was founded upon: starving (or at the very least,......

A Lower East Side woman was charged by the Queens DA's office for not delivering English bulldog puppies after customers paid for them. The Queens DA's office believes that Janet Goris never actually had any puppies when she advertised on various websites that she was looking for to find puppies a "loving home" and requested that interested parties only pay the shipping costs. Of course, the shipping costs were $300-400 a pop. The Sun has......

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. One defendant, JD Kenny, would pay $35-50 per skimmed card information, and then use that information......