Three Seaford brothers are among seven suspects who have been rounded up in an alleged identity theft ring that stole more than $1 million in products and gift cards by tapping more than 180 victims’ charge accounts in four states. ***Wil’s Note: They’ll be home in 3 to 5 years im no lawyers but i’m saying****
The Long Island trio is accused of using the stolen information to make fake driver’s licenses in a smoke shop in Greenwich Village, which the ring used to impersonate consumers with credit at major retail stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a joint statement Thursday.
“The multistate identity theft ring that we dismantled today jeopardized the financial livelihood of vulnerable Americans already struggling in these economic times,†said agent James T. Hayes Jr. of Homeland Security Investigations in New York, which was also involved in the investigation.
Ali Abdul Hussein, 33, and his two younger brothers, Mahmoud, 27, and Fadal, 22, were each charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiracy to produce fake driver’s licenses, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“My client is someone who helped out around the store and knew very little about what was going on,†said Steven Brill, a Manhattan-based attorney for Fadal. Attorneys for his two older brothers were not immediately available for comment.
Prosecutors said that the Bronx-based ringleaders hijacked the credit of consumers at retail stores including Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Kohl’s. Investigators used court-ordered wiretaps to intercept some of their phone calls.
Agents said that gift cards were sometimes sold at about 70 percent of face value, and that other times members told checkout clerks they had forgotten their store credit card, then would use a fake driver’s license and the victim’s Social Security number.
“Victims are often unaware they’ve been robbed until days or weeks later, when they are hit with credit card bills for mysterious purchases made by criminal impersonators,†Bharara said. “Identity theft results in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to unsuspecting victims and businesses, and victims may have to spend countless hours just to get their lives back in order.â€
The suspects from New York City and Long Island were charged with various counts of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, conspiracy to produce fake driver’s licenses, and aggravated identity theft.
“Today’s arrests send a strong message to identity thieves in this state: They will be caught and prosecuted,†Schneiderman said.
