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A dozen suspects charged in major ID fraud ring that stole $3M

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Six from Secaucus among a dozen suspects charged in ID fraud ring that stole $3M

DECEMBER 9, 2015, 5:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015, 6:17 PM
BY JOHN SEASLY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A dozen people face first-degree money-laundering charges after they allegedly stole about $3 million from banks in an elaborate scheme involving fake identities, bad checks and hundreds of credit cards, state acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said Wednesday.

Many of those charged are from Secaucus or Jersey City, and all but one have been arrested, Hoffman said.

The group allegedly created “synthetic” identities by combining real Social Security numbers with fake names and birth dates so they could open numerous checking and credit card accounts online. Authorities allege that through bad checks, the accused deposited money into the accounts, which they then used to pay off credit cards, increasing the cards’ credit limits. They allegedly also withdrew the money from ATMs and via money orders before the bad checks were discovered.

False “merchants” created shell businesses solely to participate in the scheme, Hoffman said. Those businesses swiped the fraudulent credit cards for nonexistent purchases, then received reimbursement from credit card processing companies.

“While the credit card holders, businesses and purchases in this scheme were fictitious, the losses suffered by the banks were very real and totaled an alarming $3 million,” Hoffman said.

The 12 charged allegedly split the proceeds, while the bank accounts of the fake businesses were used to launder the money, with checks written from one company to another as if they were doing business, Hoffman said.

The scam was active from 2012 to 2015 and involved hundreds of credit cards and millions of dollars in fake transactions, said state Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig.

“All of the agencies involved deserve great credit for unraveling this tangled scheme and obtaining the evidence necessary to prosecute these individuals to the full extent of the law,” Honig said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/six-from-secaucus-among-a-dozen-suspects-charged-in-id-fraud-ring-that-stole-3m-1.1470772