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News
2011.12.21
Identity Theft |
| North Bay: The NC3TF arrested a Northern California man suspected of Identity Theft. The suspect was initially identified when an NC3TF Detective followed up on multiple reports of Identity Theft originating from one apartment complex in the City of Walnut Creek.
In dealing with investigators from three of the affected credit card companies, it was determined that one suspect was likely responsible for over $260,000.00 in charges using additional credit cards from over 200 known victims throughout Marin, Contra Costa and Solano Counties.
The suspect was buying high-end clothing, and electronics. Most of the electronics were Apple products such as Ipods, Ipads, and Macbooks.
The suspect had the victims’ mail forwarded to vacant homes in the Bay Area where it would then be retrieved. The mail forwarding was accomplished using the US Postal Service web site.
The suspect was identified after the NC3TF Detective identified a Craigslist ad for the sale of Apple products which was consistent with the products known to have been fraudulently purchased. NC3TF Detectives arranged to purchase the product, which was ultimately determined to have been purchased with a fraudulently obtained credit card.
The suspect was arrested during a subsequent search of his residence. A search of his residence revealed additional property purchased with fraudulently obtained credit cards, counterfeit California Driver licenses, and the personal identifying information of over 200 additional victims.
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2011.11.30
Software Piracy |
| Walnut Creek: After receiving a complaint from Autodesk regarding a bay area Craigslist seller advertising Autodesk products for sale an NC3TF Investigator contacted the suspect by email. The suspect advised that he could provide any Autodesk product for $200.00. The NC3TF Investigator requested one of Autodesk’s latest releases, Autodesk Design Suite 2012 which retails for over $9,995.00.
Upon meeting with the suspect he downloaded a trial version of the software from the Autodesk web site. The suspect then transferred files from a portable hard drive which he used to activate the program.
Upon completion of the sale the suspect was arrested. A search of the suspect’s back pack incident to his arrest yielded additional portable hard drives, flash drives, and CD’s which contained “cracking” keys for multiple software companies as well various Microsoft and Adobe.
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2011.10.06
Identity Theft |
| Vallejo: The NC3TF arrested a juvenile after receiving reports of Identity theft in which the common usage between the victims was a Vallejo fast food restaurant. After reviewing in-store surveillance of the employees the suspect was seen writing the victim’s credit/debit cards information on a pad of paper.
The suspect was found to already be on probation for theft charges. A search of the suspect’s bedroom pursuant to his probation revealed receipts for property fraudulently purchased as well as full credit card information for 6 additional victims.
The suspect was arrested and later released to a guardian.
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2011.08.05
ID Theft Arrest |
| On August 4, 2011, Detectives from the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force and Pleasanton Police Dept. arrested Akash Sharma at his home in Ceres, CA, on 10 counts of Identity Theft and 3 counts of Commercial burglary.
A search of Sharma’s residence pursuant to a search warrant obtained by Pleasanton Police Detectives revealed items purchased with stolen credit cards in the cities of Walnut Creek, Pleasanton and San Ramon.
The arrest came after a month long investigation by the Pleasanton Police Department, Walnut Creek Police Department, Livermore Police Department and the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force.
Sharma is believed to be responsible for entering businesses in Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Joaquin Counties; stealing personal items from those business’ employees such as purses, wallets and computers; and then using those victim’s credit cards to purchase over $40,000.00 in jewelry, clothing and electronics.
Sharma was booked into the Contra Costa County Jail on $410,000.00 bail.
The case is being prosecuted by the California Attorney General’s Office, Special Crimes Unit.
5 victims have been identified to date but given the geographic and date range there may be other as of yet unidentified victims. Anyone with any information is urged to contact Det. N. Olson at the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force at nolson@nc3tf.org or 925-943-5872.
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2011.01.07
Solano County: Unlawful Computer Access; Identity Theft |
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A Bank Investigator reported that a customer’s account had been unlawfully accessed through their on-line banking system. The suspect changed the victim’s address and eventually opened 2 additional accounts, both of which were linked to the victim’s real accounts.
The suspect obtained debit cards and checks for the 2 additional accounts. Over the next month the suspect deposited other stolen checks, totaling over $10,000.00 into the account. 5 additional suspects were found to be cashing checks and making ATM withdrawals from the fraudulent accounts.
Through ATM photographs; store surveillance video, and witness interviews all 6 suspects were ultimately identified and arrested.
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2010.12.23
Marin and Contra Costa Counties: Identity Theft |
| An arrest was made after a 7 month Identity theft investigation. The case began after Home Depot loss prevention reported that a subject was making multiple credit card and check purchases from the San Rafael store using the credit card accounts of victims from Tiburon, San Rafael, and Pleasanton, as well as checks from a Novato victim.
The suspect often made the orders by phone using the name that matched the account used for payment and advised that another person would pick up the merchandise. Occasionally they requested that it be delivered to an address in Richmond. The calls were found to be coming from the same the phone number and the items that were delivered all went to the same physical address in Richmond.
Investigators posed as deliver persons on the next scheduled delivery, although when we arrived at the residence it was vacant. Through contacts with the neighbors, the suspect was identified as Richard Earl Griffen of Vallejo. Through surveillance video, interviews of the delivery company drivers, and Home Depot clerks the investigator was able to link this suspect to additional purchases.
The case was filed with the Marin County District Attorney’s Office and a warrant was issued for Griffen’s arrest. Griffen was located and arrested on December 23, 2010 in Richmond. He was booked into the Marin County Jail. At the time of the arrest Griffen was in possession of another counterfeit California Drivers License and 10 suspected stolen credit cards.
The driver’s license had Griffen’s photograph but the personal identifying information of another person. The credit cards were actually prepaid credit cards that had been embossed with the name that matched the driver’s license.
At this time, Griffen has been linked to making over $25,000.00 worth of fraudulent charges.
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2010.11.29
Contra Costa County: Identity Theft |
| A Caregiver for a dependant adult in Walnut Creek was arrested after the victim learned that someone had stolen her credit card and made over $18,000.00 in charges.
The caregiver was identified through surveillance photographs as the person using the card. The caregiver was arrested when she arrived at the victim’s residence for her shift.
Search warrants were served on a residence in Oakland where the suspect rented a room. Property purchased with the stolen credit cards was found in the room, which included all of the furnishings. Additional items of property belonging to the victim were also found in the residence. The identification of the additional stolen property prompted the victim and her family to check on other valuables stored in the home. The victim found that fur coats and items of jewelry valued at over $40,000.00 were also missing.
Through interviews with associates of the suspect a storage unit was identified and searched. The search yielded additional stolen property that was recovered.
Pawn slips were found in the suspect’s residence and vehicle which lead investigators to recover additional jewelry which had been pawned.
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2010.11.16
Software Piracy |
| In response to a complaint by Adobe Systems of a person selling their products on Craigslist and undercover purchase was made at a location in San Rafael. After confirming that the software was in fact counterfeit the suspect was arrested and booked into the Marin County jail. As search warrant was served on his residence and additional evidence items were seized. |
2010.09.29
Novato ID Theft - Marin IJ Article |
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Authorities investigate elaborate counterfeit, ID theft ring
Police confiscated more than $1,600 in counterfeit bills. $1 bills had been washed with chemicals and reprinted as $50 and $100 bills.
Authorities are investigating an elaborate counterfeiting operation involving stolen mail from throughout Marin County, credit card numbers of more than 200 people, counterfeit cash, fake checks, printers and laptop computers.
The operation came to light Aug. 27, when Novato police Officer Blake Dunbar checked up on a parolee whose name he recognized on a log as one of the guests at the Days Inn motel on Redwood Boulevard.
"I checked the registry for the hotel just to see who was there," Dunbar said. "We do that from time to time."
Patrick Fahy, a detective with the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force in Napa, said Dunbar dropped in at an opportune moment.
"They were right in the middle of making fraudulent checks, counterfeit money, credit cards and drivers' licenses," Fahy said. "That officer being very proactive in his job has probably saved hundreds of victims their identity theft, and I don't know how many thousands of dollars."
Charges have been filed against three Marin County men in connection with suspected identity theft and counterfeiting, said Barry Borden, Marin's chief deputy district attorney.
The computer crimes task force, a five-county agency with investigators from throughout the region and managed by Marin District Attorney Ed Berberian, has taken over the investigation. The stolen mail came from Mill Valley, San Rafael and Novato.
"Most of those mailboxes were in rural areas with high-dollar property values," Fahy said.
He said the identities of several of the Marin mail theft victims were used to make fake checks that were cashed in Sonoma County. After the August arrests, police confiscated two more computers that were in the possession of one of the suspects. One of them is suspected to have been stolen from Loma Verde Elementary School during a 2009 break-in, Fahy said.
There was also mail stolen from an investment company that netted the suspects account information from more than 100 people, Fahy said.
Typically, identity thieves steal mail to obtain names, bank statements, credit cards, car registrations, driver's licenses, Social Security numbers and anything else that will aid them in creating a fake identity, Fahy said. They use a computer program to print blank checks, then affix the identity theft victims' names and bank account numbers to the check.
"It looks professional," he said. "It looks like a bank check."
The suspects arrested in Novato had created fake drivers' licenses by matching photos of themselves with other people's names, Fahy said. He said fraudulent checks were cashed in Rohnert Park using fake drivers' licenses.
During the August arrest, police confiscated $1,600 in counterfeit cash. Fahy said chemicals had been used to wash the amounts off of $1 bills and then the bills were reprinted to look like $50 and $100 bills. Police also seized an unspecified amount of an unidentified controlled substance.
Fahy said the best way to prevent identity theft is to lock mailboxes, pick up new personal checks at banks, open a post office box where financial information can be sent and keep computer passwords in a secure place.
"ID theft is so widespread that we have to protect ourselves," he said.
William D. Charleson, 44, of Novato; John P. Hoffman, 34, of Mill Valley; and Cerina V. Lazlo, 23, of San Rafael have all been charged with the following felonies: falsifying a driver's license or identification, receiving stolen property, fraudulent acquisition of personal information of 10 or more persons and possession of a controlled substance. Charleson faces two additional felony charges: possessing credit card equipment for the purpose of counterfeiting access cards and identity theft with a prior conviction. Renee G. Perry-Charleson, 42, of Santa Venetia was charged only with possession of a controlled substance.
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2010.08.31
Marin County: Network Intrusion |
| The NC3TF received a complaint from a Marin County based organic skin care company. The company had been working with a Web Designer from the Southern California area. The skin care company became increasingly dissatisfied with the Web Designer and they ultimately terminated the working relationship. To retaliate, the Web Designer, while unauthorized to do so, logged in to the company’s website, assumed Administrator status, and locked the company out of their own website. Additionally, he disabled part of the company’s shopping cart, therefore haulting their ability to receive sales orders.
The Web Designer then extorted thousands of dollars from the company by agreeing to allow the company access to their own web page only after the Web Designer was paid money to which he was not entitled. Ultimately the company paid to obtain the passwords and regain control of their web site.
After an investigation by the NC3TF an arrest warrant was issued by the Marin County Superior Court for the arrest of the web designer for violation of California Penal Code Section 502 (c) (1): Knowingly access and without permission alter, damage, delete, destroy, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer system, or computer network in order to either (A) devise or execute
any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort, or (B) wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data.
On August 26, 2010, the NC3TF, with the assistance of the Southern California High Tech Task Force served a search warrant on the suspect’s home for additional evidence. The suspect was arrested and booked at the Los Angeles County Jail. |
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