FORMER BANK EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN LARGE IDENTITY FRAUD SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Maryland Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Massive Identity Theft and Tax Fraud Scheme

A former bank employee was sentenced today to serve 87 months in prison for her role in a far-reaching identity theft and tax fraud scheme in which she used her position to help process deposits and withdrawals of nearly $1.1 million in fraudulently obtained federal income tax refunds.

Yvette Haden, 50, of Suitland, Maryland, is among approximately a dozen people who have pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to charges in one of the largest prosecutions to date involving the use of stolen identifying information.  The overall case involves the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns.

The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Washington Field Office, Acting Inspector in Charge David M. McGinnis of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations John L. Phillips for the  U.S. Department of Treasury, and Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Michalko for the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office.

Haden pleaded guilty in April 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of bank fraud.  She was sentenced by the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer.  As part of her plea agreement, Haden must pay $973,376 in restitution to the IRS and she also is subject to a forfeiture money judgment of the same amount.  Upon completion of her prison term, Haden will be placed on three years of supervised release.

Haden was among participants in a massive and sophisticated identity theft and false tax refund scheme involving an extensive network of more than 130 people, many of whom were receiving public assistance.  At least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns were filed for the tax years of 2005 through 2012, seeking refunds of at least $40 million.  The returns were often filed in the names of people whose identities had been stolen, including the elderly, people in assisted living facilities, drug addicts and incarcerated prisoners.  The refunds listed more than 400 “taxpayer” addresses in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

The government’s evidence showed that participants in the schemes had various roles: some stole the identifying information; some permitted their personal identifying information to be used; some created and mailed the fraudulent federal tax returns; some permitted their addresses to be used for receipt of the refund checks; some helped cash the checks; some provided bank accounts for negotiation of checks; and some forged endorsements of identity theft victims on the refund checks.

According to the government’s evidence, from 2007 through 2010, Haden was employed as a financial services representative at a bank branch in Southeast Washington, D.C.  She assisted co-conspirators in the scheme and violated the bank’s policies and procedures through a series of actions, including opening three business checking accounts in the names of three purported sole proprietorships.  Haden, who at the time of her crimes had more than 25 years of banking industry experience, was solely responsible for verifying client identities and documents and entering client information directly into the computer.  Once the accounts were opened, Haden aided the co-conspirators by processing deposits of fraudulently obtained U.S. income tax refund checks, as well as withdrawals.  To hide her activity, she falsified slips documenting withdrawals.  Haden was compensated by one of the co-conspirators for her role in the offenses.

Also, according to the government’s evidence, Haden opened a checking account in her own name at a credit union in 2012 and deposited or transferred 14 refund checks to that account.

In total, from June 2010 through November 2012, Haden negotiated 398 fraudulent income tax refund checks totaling $1,024,271.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Wszalek, Special Agent in Charge Kelly, Acting Inspector in Charge McGinnis, Assistant Inspector General Phillips and Special Agent in Charge Michalko commended those who investigated the case.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein and Paralegal Specialist Donna Galindo.  Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Chubin Epstein of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Fraud and Public Corruption Section and Trial Attorneys Jessica N. Moran and Jeffrey B. Bender of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting cases in the investigation.

VIETNAMESE NATIONAL CHARGED IN INTERNATIONAL PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION THEFT SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, October 18, 2013

Vietnamese National Charged in Widespread International Scheme to Steal and Sell Hundreds of Thousands of U.s. Persons’ Personally Identifiable Information
A Vietnamese national has been indicted in the District of New Hampshire for allegedly participating in an international scheme to steal and sell hundreds of thousands of Americans’ personally identifiable information (PII) through various underground websites that he operated.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas of the District of New Hampshire, and Resident Agent in Charge Holly Fraumeni of the U.S. Secret Service’s Manchester Field Office made the announcement after the indictment was unsealed.

Hieu Minh Ngo, 24, a Vietnamese national, was charged in a 15-count indictment filed under seal in November 2012, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, substantive wire fraud, conspiracy to commit identity fraud, substantive identity fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and substantive access device fraud.  Ngo was arrested upon his entry into the United States in February 2013.  The statutory maximum penalties are five years on the identity fraud and identity fraud conspiracy counts, two years each on the aggravated identity theft counts, 20 years on the wire fraud count and wire fraud conspiracy counts, 10 years on the substantive access device fraud count and five years on the conspiracy to commit access device fraud count.

According to the indictment, from 2007 through 2012, Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others packages of PII for more than 500,000 individuals.  These packages, known as “fullz,” typically included a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number.  During this same time, Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others stolen payment card data, which typically included the victim account holder’s payment card number, expiration date, card verification value number, account holder name, account holder address and phone number.

The indictment alleges that Ngo operated one or more online marketplaces for various carding activities, known as carder forums, where he stored and offered for sale “fullz” and other PII, including “fullz” of individuals located in the District of New Hampshire.  On two carder forums, Ngo and his co-conspirators offered buyers the option to obtain a specified quantity of “fullz” or to submit a query of a particular name to obtain that person’s associated PII.  Ngo and his co-conspirators allegedly offered several categories of PII, depending on how recently the data had been acquired, and charged higher prices for more recent data.  Ngo allegedly made arrangements with others who, after paying a fee, could access and then and re-sell the stolen payment card data, “fullz” and other PII.  Ngo and his co-conspirators created one or more accounts with a digital currency service and used those accounts to receive funds for the stolen payment card data, “fullz” and other PII that they sold.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

JUSTICE ANNOUNCES SIX GUILTY PLEAS IN TAX/MAIL FRAUD CASE INVOLVING ID THEFT FROM THE DECEASED

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Six Plead Guilty in Ohio to Tax and Mail Fraud Conspiracies Involving I.D. Theft of Deceased
Muaad Salem, Hanan Widdi, Najeh Widdi, Hazem Woodi, Daxesj Patel and Fahim Suleiman each entered guilty pleas before the Honorable James S. Gwin today to charges arising from a scheme to obtain false and fraudulent U.S. Treasury tax refund checks, the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.   Specifically, Salem, Najeh Widdi and Woodi entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud; Hanan Widdi entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit mail fraud; Patel entered a guilty plea to two counts of submitting false claims and one count of false statements; and Suleiman entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit mail fraud; mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, between April 15, 2009 to at least August 2011, Salem, Suleiman, Najeh Widdi, Hanan Widdi, Woodi, Patel and other unknown co-conspirators defrauded the United States by filing false and fraudulent tax returns, many in the names of recently deceased taxpayers, and directing refunds to controlled locations in the state of Florida.   The U.S. Treasury checks generated by the false and fraudulent returns were then sent by the U.S. mail to co-conspirators in Ohio who sold and distributed the checks for negotiation at various businesses and banking institutions.   As part of their plea agreements, the defendants admitted that the fraud loss caused by their conduct was between $1 and 2.5 million and that the offenses involved more than ten victims.

Sentencing is scheduled on May 29, 2012, for Najeh Widdi and Patel; on May 30, 2012, for Hanan Widdi and Woodi; and on June 1, 2012, for Salem and Suleiman.   Mail fraud is punishable by a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison; conspiracy to defraud the United States is punishable by a maximum potential sentence of 10 years; conspiracy to commit mail fraud, making a false claim against the United States and making a false statement are each punishable by a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison; aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum prison sentence of two years to follow conviction on any other offense.   All of the above sentences are also punishable by a fine of $250,000 for each count of conviction.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary D. Arbeznik of the Northern District of Ohio and Trial Attorney Jessica W. Knight of the Justice Department’s Tax Division following investigation by the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the United States Postal Service.

WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO USING FAKE IDENTITIES TO RECEIVE TAX REFUNDS

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that Tracey Fergerson pleaded guilty today before Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody in Montgomery, Ala., to conspiring to defraud the United States government. Fergerson and a co-defendant were charged by a grand jury in a 22-count indictment that was unsealed on March 30, 2011.

According to the plea agreement, Fergerson participated in a tax fraud scheme that was perpetrated through a tax return preparation business called Fast Tax Cash in Montgomery. From 2005 through 2008, Fergerson recruited customers for Fast Tax Cash and coached them to provide false information in order to fraudulently increase their tax refund amounts. Fergerson also admitted that she improperly obtained personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, and used that personal information to have false tax returns prepared at Fast Tax Cash. Fergerson admitted that she would receive payment for the false refunds that were obtained.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Fergerson faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

The case was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by trial attorneys Michael Boteler, Charles M. Edgar Jr. and Michelle M. Petersen of the Justice Department's Tax Division."