On Q Professional Investigations

Organized theft rings have found a new way to get quick cash for stolen merchandise by returning those items to retail stores for easily transferable gift cards, experts said.

Local law enforcement officials said they have seen signs of such activity in some parts of southwest Ohio.

Nearly 78 percent of U.S. retailers report they have been victims of store merchandise credit scams, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2013 Organized Retail Crime survey.

Experienced thieves, known as “boosters,” steal merchandise and return it without a receipt for the sole purpose of receiving store credit via a gift card. They then sell those gift cards for cash on the secondary market, such as discount gift card websites, pawn shops, check-cashing stores and automated kiosks.

“The new trend is disturbing in that these thieves are now making better return on their time stealing merchandise,” said Richard Mellor, the retail federation’s vice president of loss prevention. Boosters can get as much as 90 percent of full retail value, plus sales tax, via gift card fraud, as opposed to pennies on the dollar by selling the items to a fence — a person who acts as a conduit of stolen goods, he said.

Organized criminal enterprises have boosters getting the gift cards through merchandise credit fraud and are now selling those cards in bulk, Mellor said.

Cash from gift card fraud can be used to fuel drug habits and fund terrorism, said Gordon Gough, executive vice president of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants.

“Before it was kind of a casual theft where somebody would steal something, turn it in and then maybe buy something else in the store or sell it on the street,” Gough said. “But now this has become a market online where people can sell these cards,” he said.

Industry experts and law enforcement officials estimate that organized retail crime costs retailers $30 billion annually. A dollar loss figure related to gift card fraud is not yet available, Mellor said.

Lost revenue from such crimes can result in less inventory and fewer employees for retailers, and higher prices for consumers, according to federation officials.

Retailers nationwide began reporting the trend over the last 12 to 18 months after business statistics indicated an increase in gift cards issued for returns without a receipt, as well as familiar faces and names associated with those returns.

“They started pointing to we’ve got a bigger fraud problem that we realized,” Mellor said.

Beavercreek police Capt. Jeff Fiorita said he has seen a recent pattern of gift card fraud incidents in his jurisdiction, which includes both The Greene Town Center and the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

Fiorita said the thieves will take something off a local store shelf, return it for in-store credit, and then go to a different store location and use the gift card to buy something of similar value. They will then return that item with a receipt to receive the full value in cash.

“I don’t know if it is anything that is related to a large scheme or a large-scale theft ring,” Fiorita said. “Most of these are typically independent folks that we catch.”

Miami Twp. police Sgt. Jay Phares said gift card fraud is nothing new in the area that includes the Dayton Mall, but he hasn’t seen any recent spikes in activity.

Cincinnati Premium Outlets has had issues with roaming bands of shoplifters, “but we have not had that problem so far that I know of,” said Monroe police Lt. Frank Robinson.

Management officials at several area shopping malls declined comment because they lacked information about their tenants’ retail transactions. Loss prevention managers at several large retail stores also declined comment.

Mellor said the trend is “troubling” for retailers because it allows thieves to bypass traditional store security measures such as locked cases and electronic tags for expensive, frequently targeted items like watches, jewelry, designer handbags and electronics.

View Source

STATESBORO, GA—The federal grand jury sitting in Savannah, Georgia returned six indictments yesterday charging 12 defendants with 115 violations of federal law involving fraudulent tax returns. The federal crimes charged in these indictments range from a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service to identity theft from medical records. All these indictments allege that the defendants illicitly obtained personal identifiers, such as names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers, and used these means of identification to prepare and submit fraudulent tax returns in order to obtain tax refunds that were then converted to the defendants’ use.

Based on these federal charges and related state crimes, law enforcement officials are arresting 21 individuals today in Georgia, one defendant in Ohio, and one defendant in Florida, who are listed below. These arrests are part of the same long-term investigation that led to the execution of multiple search warrants in Statesboro, Georgia, in September 2012. Initial federal court appearances for the federally indicted defendants who were arrested in Statesboro, Georgia, are scheduled for April 4, 2013, in Savannah, Georgia.

United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver said, “These indictments and arrests demonstrate the commitment of the United States Attorney’s Office to protecting the privacy of medical records and the hard-earned money of honest taxpayers. While April 15th is traditionally seen as the end of tax season, this investigation is ongoing. Our law enforcement partners will continue to trace electronically filed fraudulent tax returns to track down these identity thieves and put them in handcuffs.”

IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot said, “Today’s announcement exemplifies IRS-Criminal Investigation’s intense focus and rigorous pursuit of perpetrators of identity theft and refund fraud. IRS is extremely grateful for the cooperation and assistance we have received from our partners at the local, state, and federal level. Be assured that IRS Criminal Investigation, with our law enforcement partners, will continue to be proactive in the investigation of those individuals who engage in similar behavior.”

Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “Today’s extensive joint law enforcement actions resulting in almost two dozen arrests demonstrates the growing problem involving tax refund related fraud and, more importantly, the growing law enforcement response to address it. The FBI will continue to work with its various law enforcement partners, to include providing additional resources, to disrupt such groups engaged in these types of tax fraud activities.”

Statesboro Director of Public Safety Wendell Turner said, “The Statesboro Police Department has been working with our local and federal counterparts to apprehend the persons responsible for defrauding the government and individuals through a variety of criminal schemes. We are very proud of these partnerships and the results they yield for our citizens. This investigation is just another example of everyone working together, sharing resources, information, and expertise for the common good of our community.”

If convicted, each federal defendant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment for the conspiracy charge, 20 years’ imprisonment for each count of filing fraudulent tax returns, 10 years’ imprisonment for the charge of misusing medical records, and a two-year mandatory, consecutive prison sentence for each charge of aggravated identity theft. Each of these charges also carries a fine of up to $250,000.

United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver emphasized that an indictment is only an accusation and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

FBI Special Agent Marcus Kirkland, IRS Special Agent Gwen Weston, and SPD Sgt. James Winskey, assisted by their agencies’ colleagues, are conducting the investigation that led to these indictments and arrests. Also assisting in today’s arrests are the U.S. Secret Service, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Probation Office, and the sheriff’s offices for Bulloch and Richmond Counties. Assistant United States Attorneys David Stewart and Lamont A. Belk are the federal prosecutors in these cases. For additional information, please contact First Assistant United States Attorney James D. Durham at (912) 341-7842.

List of 12 federal defendants with their ages and current residences:

Erica Baldwin, 31, of Statesboro, Georgia
Tracy Denson, 44, of Statesboro, Georgia
Shakita Eason, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia
Yolando Edmond, 36, of Statesboro, Georgia
Gloria Evans, 44, of Statesboro, Georgia
Joshua Mincey, 20, of Statesboro, Georgia
Porsche Pinkney, 19, of Augusta, Georgia
Dwan Scott, 32, of Statesboro, Georgia
Jenna Scott, 28, of Jacksonville, Florida
Gregory Smith 21, of Statesboro, Georgia
Tidaesha Taylor, 27, of College Park, Georgia
Andrew Webb, 31,of Register, Georgia

List of 11 individuals arrested on state warrants with their ages and current residences:

Santravis Jerrod Brown, 23, of Statesboro, Georgia
Reginald Raynard Ellison, 29, of Statesboro, Georgia
Sanchez Ortega Harden, 28, of Statesboro, Georgia
Chrystal N. Harlie, 32, of Statesboro, Georgia
Victoria Quinn Johnson (Baldwin), 28, of Statesboro, Georgia
Sean Lee, 34, of Statesboro, Georgia
Myron Kelsey Rawls, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia
Vera Richmond, 69, of Statesboro, Georgia
Lanika Loyonda Walden (Mincey), 37, of Statesboro, Georgia
Melissa Shantel Whitfield, 33, of Statesboro, Georgia
Lasharett Genet Wilkerson, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia

View Source

BALTIMORE – Special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested two men in Maryland Wednesday morning after both were indicted on document fraud related charges.

Antonio Abraham Cruz-Cruz, 26, a Mexican citizen residing in Adelphi, Md., and Henry Ramos Agustin, 37, a Guatemalan citizen residing in Cambridge, Md., were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges relating to the sale and transfer of fraudulent identification documents. The superseding indictment was returned on March 20 and unsealed Wednesday upon the arrest of the defendants.

“Document fraud poses a threat to national security and puts the security of our communities at risk because it creates a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to gain entry to and remain in the United States,” said HSI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William Winter.

“This investigation resulted in the arrest and indictment of an alleged document mill leader and co-conspirator operating out of Maryland. Homeland Security Investigations will move aggressively to investigate and bring to justice those who potentially compromise the integrity of America’s legal immigration system.”

The 13-count indictment alleges that from Oct. 17, 2012 through Feb. 19, Cruz-Cruz and Agustin conspired to manufacture and transfer fraudulent identification documents. According to the indictment, Cruz-Cruz manufactured documents, including permanent resident cards and social security cards, which he sold to customers, and which he provided to Agustin for sale to customers.

The indictment alleges that the defendants solicited and took orders for false identification documents from customers who provided the defendants with photographs and personal information. Agustin allegedly provided the photographs and personal information to Cruz-Cruz, who manufactured the requested fake documents, which he then delivered to Agustin in exchange for a portion of the sales price. The indictment alleges that Cruz-Cruz sold such manufactured fake documents to his own customers as well.

The defendants face up to 15 years in prison for the conspiracy and for each count of transfer of false identification documents; 10 years in prison for each count of fraud and misuse of immigration documents; five years in prison for each count of social security number fraud and a mandatory two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft. An initial appearance and arraignment was held Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Cruz-Cruz and Agustin are detained pending trial.

The case was investigated by HSI Baltimore and HSI Ocean City with the assistance of the Anne Arundel County Police Department and Baltimore County Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamera L. Fine for the District of Baltimore.

View Source

Scam artists in the U.S. and around the world defraud millions of people each year. They use the phone, email, postal mail, and the internet to trick you into sending money or giving out personal information.

Here are 10 things you can do — or not — to stop a scam.

What to Do

Know who you’re dealing with.
Try to find a seller’s physical address (not a P.O. Box) and phone number. With internet phone services and other web-based technologies, it’s tough to tell where someone is calling from. Do an online search for the company name and website, and look for reviews. If people report negative experiences, you’ll have to decide if the offer is worth the risk. After all, a deal is good only if you get a product that actually works as promised.

Know that wiring money is like sending cash.
Con artists often insist that people wire money, especially overseas, because it’s nearly impossible to reverse the transaction or trace the money. Don’t wire money to strangers, to sellers who insist on wire transfers for payment, or to anyone who claims to be a relative or friend in an emergency and wants to keep the request a secret.

Read your monthly statements.
Scammers steal account information and then run up charges or commit crimes in your name. Dishonest merchants bill you for monthly “membership fees” and other goods or services without your authorization. If you see charges you don’t recognize or didn’t okay, contact your bank, card issuer, or other creditor immediately.

After a disaster, give only to established charities.
In the aftermath of a disaster, give to an established charity, rather than one that has sprung up overnight. Pop-up charities probably don’t have the infrastructure to get help to the affected areas or people, and they could be collecting the money to finance illegal activity. For more donating tips, check out ftc.gov/charityfraud.

Talk to your doctor before you buy health products or treatments.
Ask about research that supports a product’s claims — and possible risks or side effects. In addition, buy prescription drugs only from licensed U.S. pharmacies. Otherwise, you could end up with products that are fake, expired, or mislabeled — in short, products that could be dangerous to your health. Learn more about buying health products online.

Remember there’s no sure thing in investing.
If someone contacts you with low-risk, high-return investment opportunities, stay away. When you hear pitches that insist you act now, that guarantee big profits, that promise little or no financial risk, or that demand that you send cash immediately, report them at ftc.gov.

What Not to Do

Don’t send money to someone you don’t know.
Not to an online seller you’ve never heard of — or an online love interest who asks for money. It’s best to do business with sites you know and trust. If you buy items through an online auction, consider using a payment option that provides protection, like a credit card.

If you think you’ve found a good deal, but you aren’t familiar with the company, check it out. Type the company or product name into your favorite search engine with terms like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” See what comes up — on the first page of results as well as on the later pages.

Never pay fees first for the promise of a big pay-off later — whether it’s for a loan, a job, a grant or a so-called prize.

Don’t agree to deposit a check and wire money back.
By law, banks have to make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. You’re responsible for the checks you deposit: If a check turns out to be a fake, you’re responsible for paying back the bank. No matter how convincing the story, someone who overpays with a check is almost certainly a scam artist.

Don’t reply to messages asking for personal or financial information.
It doesn’t matter whether the message comes as an email, a phone call, a text message, or an ad. Don’t click on links or call phone numbers included in the message, either. It’s called phishing. The crooks behind these messages are trying to trick you into revealing sensitive information. If you got a message like this and you are concerned about your account status, call the number on your credit or debit card — or your statement — and check on it.

Don’t play a foreign lottery.
It’s illegal to play a foreign lottery. And yet messages that tout your chances of winning a foreign lottery, or messages that claim you’ve already won, can be tempting. Inevitably, you have to pay “taxes,” “fees,” or “customs duties” to collect your prize. If you must send money to collect, you haven’t won anything. And if you send any money, you will lose it. You won’t get any money back, either, regardless of promises or guarantees.

Report Scams

If you think you may have been scammed:

-File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. If you are outside the U.S., file a complaint at econsumer.gov.

-Visit ftc.gov/idtheft, where you’ll find out how to minimize your risk of identity theft.

-Report scams to your state Attorney General.

If you get unsolicited email offers or spam, send the messages to spam@uce.gov.

If you get what looks like lottery material from a foreign country through the postal mail, take it to your local postmaster.

View Source

A child’s Social Security number can be used by identity thieves to apply for government benefits, open bank and credit card accounts, apply for a loan or utility service, or rent a place to live. Check for a credit report to see if your child’s information is being misused. Take immediate action if it is.

Many school forms require personal and, sometimes, sensitive information. Find out how your child’s information is collected, used, stored, and thrown away. Your child’s personal information is protected by law. Asking schools and other organizations to safeguard your child’s information can help minimize your child’s risk of identity theft.

Read More

The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is a non-profit association of attorneys and consumer advocates committed to representing customers’ interests. Our members are private and public sector attorneys, legal services attorneys, law professors and law students whose primary focus is the protection and representation of consumers. NACA’s members focus much of their efforts on advocating for individuals who have been victimized by fraudulent, abusive, or predatory business practices. However, NACA is also diligently focusing on innovative educational opportunities designed to prevent consumers from falling victim to these consumer scams. We are pleased to join in celebrating National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) with the Federal Trade Commission the week of March 3rd-9th.

“The goal of any good consumer advocate is our own obsolescence,” states Ira Rheingold, NACA’s Executive Director. Though National Consumer Protection Week comes only once a year, NACA’s educational unit strives year round to provide both attorneys and consumers with the learning resources, opportunities, and forums they need to be effective advocates for themselves and others in the marketplace. To that end, NACA has launched a new initiative aimed at providing consumer advocates with frequent, free-of-charge online webinar courses addressing the latest in substantive legal developments, legislative and regulatory updates, and more. Our goal with these webinars is to provide consumer advocates and educators a forum to absorb and share new and relevant information, and then be able to tailor and implement what they have learned to serve the specific needs of the consumer communities.

NACA also develops free educational materials and brochures on various consumer protection topics, including Fair Debt Collection, Foreclosure, Military Consumer Justice, and Auto Fraud, which can be found on NACA’s website here. The brochures provide basic information for consumers to learn more about abusive lending and ways to try to avoid it. Some of our publications are available in Spanish. As part of NACA’s Military Consumer Justice Project, we have also developed free educational materials specifically tailored for military servicemembers and their families.

As part of NCPW, NACA helped to kick off this exciting week by participating in the NCPW Congressional Fair on Thursday, February 28th. Additionally, NACA is co-sponsoring the Fair Debt Collection Practices Conference with the National Consumer Law Center in Baltimore during NCPW (March 7th-9th).

View Source

The Federal Trade Commission’s annual look at its Consumer Sentinel Network database of complaints found that 2012 was the first year the agency got more than 2 million complaints overall.

And, has been true for the past 13 years, Identity theft was the top consumer complaint the commission received.

Eighteen percent or 369,132 of 2012′s complaints were related to identity theft. Of those, more than 43% related to tax- or wage-related fraud, the agency stated.

A closer look at the identity theft trend finds:

Government documents/benefits fraud (46%) was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by credit card fraud (13%), phone or utilities fraud (10%), and bank fraud (6%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were employment-related fraud (5%) and loan fraud (2%).

Complaints about government documents/benefits fraud increased 27 percentage points since calendar year 2010; tax or wage-related fraud accounted for the growth in this area, with 43.4% of identity theft victims reporting this problem in 2012. Employment-related fraud complaints, in contrast, have declined 6 percentage points since calendar year 2010.

Forty-two percent of identity theft complainants reported whether they contacted law enforcement. Of those victims, 68% notified a police department.

Fifty-four percent of these indicated a report was taken.

Florida is the state with the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft complaints, followed by Georgia and California.

Rounding out the Top 10 most complained about activities are:

-Debt collection 199,721 10%
-Banks and lenders 132,340 6%
-Shop-at-home and catalog sales 115,184 6%
-Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries 98,479 5%
-Impostor scams 82,896 4%
-Internet services 81,438 4%
-Auto-related complaints 78,062 4%
-Telephone and mobile services 76,783 4%
-Credit cards 51,550 3%

Steps taken

The Internal Revenue Service recently said it had taken a big shot at the identity theft problem completing what it called a massive national sweep targeting 389 suspects in 32 states and Puerto Rico. The IRS Criminal Investigation unit cited the total number of identity theft investigations to more than 1,460 since the start of the federal 2012 fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2011.

In addition to the criminal actions, IRS auditors and criminal investigators conducted a special compliance effort starting on Jan. 28 to visit 197 money service businesses to help make sure these businesses are not assisting identity theft or refund fraud when they cash checks. The compliance visits occurred in 17 cities the IRS labels “high-risk” such as New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso, Tucson, Birmingham, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

The identity theft push over the last several weeks reflects a wider effort under way at the IRS. Among the highlights:

-The number of IRS criminal investigations into identity theft issues more than tripled in fiscal year 2012. The IRS started 276 investigations in fiscal year 2011, a number that jumped to 898 in fiscal year 2012. So far in fiscal year 2013, there have been more than 560 criminal identity theft investigations opened.

-Total enforcement actions continue to rapidly increase against identity thieves. This category covers actions ranging from indictments and arrests to search warrants. In fiscal year 2012, enforcement actions totaled 2,400 against 1,310 suspects. After just four months in fiscal 2013, enforcement actions totaled 1,703 against 907 suspects.

-Sentencing of convicted identity thieves continue to increase. There were 80 sentencing in fiscal year 2011, which increased to 223 in fiscal year 2012.

-Jail time is increasing for identity thieves. The average sentence in fiscal year 2012 was four years or 48 months—a four-month increase from the average in fiscal year 2011. So far this fiscal year, sentences have ranged from four to 300 months.

-By late 2012, the IRS assigned more than 3,000 IRS employees—over double from 2011—to work on identity theft-related issues and the IRS has trained 35,000 employees who work with taxpayers to recognize identity theft indicators and help people victimized by identity theft.

Read More

Feb. 24–Fraud, theft and other preventable losses drain billions of dollars from retailers nationwide as shops confront increasingly sophisticated criminals bent on looting shelves.

A December study by the Centre for Retail Research on behalf of New Jersey-based Checkpoint Systems, a global leader in fighting retail crime, estimated that America’s shops lost $8.9 billion during the holiday season to shoplifters, vendor fraud, deceitful employees and other problems. That added $98 to each family’s shopping bill as stores tried to recoup losses.The research echoed the National Retail Security Survey published in June by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida. It pegged losses for America’s 3.6 million retailers at $35 billion in 2011.

There is some good news: The losses in 2011 were down $3.5 billion from those in 2008, when the recession began. Experts credit an increase in shops’ spending on guards and anti-crime gadgets that were cut from corporate budgets during the recession.

“It’s a combination of things. We’re seeing more money spent on loss prevention. That’s been notching up every year,” said Richard Mellor, vice president for Loss Prevention at the Washington-based National Retail Federation.

Key security innovations include anti-theft alarms hidden in products; software that mines sales data, inventory logs and video footage to flag shoplifters and dishonest employees; and increased information sharing between retailers and law enforcement to identify criminal suspects before they strike again.

“Retailers are paying more attention to what shrinkage means to the bottom line,” said Dan Reynolds, vice president of North American Sales and Customer Service for Checkpoint Systems.

The rise of organized crime rings is harder to halt.

The National Retail Security Survey revealed that 96 percent of retailers were victimized by packs of professional pilferers in 2011, perhaps looting as much as $12 billion.

Moving from state to state, the shoplifters often distract employees before snatching consumer goods they can fenced easily, especially online. Their top targets: Alcohol, clothing, toys, perfume, DVDs, hardware, watches and chocolates, according to Checkpoint, which designed ways to identify the criminals’ tools when they enter a store.

“We have to keep one step ahead of them,” Reynolds said.Ross Township Police Department officers try to do just that.

Dramatic heists, such as an autumn spree that targeted the Best Buy electronics store on McKnight Road or the theft of handbags from the Louis Vuitton store in Ross Park Mall in November, attract media attention, but police spend most of their time working with stores to prevent crime and quickly investigate shoplifting bands, then disseminate information about them.”It’s an issue for any township or municipality that has the number of retail stores that we do. Our problem is no different than any other community with many strip malls, malls and others retail outlets,” said Ross police Sgt. Benjamin Dripps.

Best Buy’s theft ring remains at large but Dripps said police still are looking for them.”We do many large-scale investigations. But we always also work closely with the anchor stores at the malls and the shops in strip malls. They’re familiar with our policies and know what we can do with them when we arrive.”

Carl Prine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7826 or cprine@tribweb.com.

Feb. 24–Fraud, theft and other preventable losses drain billions of dollars from retailers nationwide as shops confront increasingly sophisticated criminals bent on looting shelves.

A December study by the Centre for Retail Research on behalf of New Jersey-based Checkpoint Systems, a global leader in fighting retail crime, estimated that America’s shops lost $8.9 billion during the holiday season to shoplifters, vendor fraud, deceitful employees and other problems. That added $98 to each family’s shopping bill as stores tried to recoup losses.The research echoed the National Retail Security Survey published in June by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida. It pegged losses for America’s 3.6 million retailers at $35 billion in 2011.

There is some good news: The losses in 2011 were down $3.5 billion from those in 2008, when the recession began. Experts credit an increase in shops’ spending on guards and anti-crime gadgets that were cut from corporate budgets during the recession.

“It’s a combination of things. We’re seeing more money spent on loss prevention. That’s been notching up every year,” said Richard Mellor, vice president for Loss Prevention at the Washington-based National Retail Federation.

Key security innovations include anti-theft alarms hidden in products; software that mines sales data, inventory logs and video footage to flag shoplifters and dishonest employees; and increased information sharing between retailers and law enforcement to identify criminal suspects before they strike again.

“Retailers are paying more attention to what shrinkage means to the bottom line,” said Dan Reynolds, vice president of North American Sales and Customer Service for Checkpoint Systems.

The rise of organized crime rings is harder to halt.

The National Retail Security Survey revealed that 96 percent of retailers were victimized by packs of professional pilferers in 2011, perhaps looting as much as $12 billion.

Moving from state to state, the shoplifters often distract employees before snatching consumer goods they can fenced easily, especially online. Their top targets: Alcohol, clothing, toys, perfume, DVDs, hardware, watches and chocolates, according to Checkpoint, which designed ways to identify the criminals’ tools when they enter a store.

“We have to keep one step ahead of them,” Reynolds said.Ross Township Police Department officers try to do just that.

Dramatic heists, such as an autumn spree that targeted the Best Buy electronics store on McKnight Road or the theft of handbags from the Louis Vuitton store in Ross Park Mall in November, attract media attention, but police spend most of their time working with stores to prevent crime and quickly investigate shoplifting bands, then disseminate information about them.”It’s an issue for any township or municipality that has the number of retail stores that we do. Our problem is no different than any other community with many strip malls, malls and others retail outlets,” said Ross police Sgt. Benjamin Dripps.

Best Buy’s theft ring remains at large but Dripps said police still are looking for them.”We do many large-scale investigations. But we always also work closely with the anchor stores at the malls and the shops in strip malls. They’re familiar with our policies and know what we can do with them when we arrive.”

View Source

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE Police chiefs in New Hampshire wanted more money for their youth training program. A youth hockey team in North Dakota needed more ice time.

Both saw giving away guns as the answer.

From car dealerships to political parties to hockey teams to yes, even police chiefs, gun giveaways are an attractive way to make money or draw in customers. But in the wake of the deadly shooting rampage in a Connecticut elementary school, such raffles are drawing criticism as the ease of obtaining firearms fuels a nationwide debate over gun control measures.

The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police is raffling off a gun every day in May, including a Ruger AR-15-style rifle with a 30-round magazine similar to the one used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six educators in December. The players in West Fargo’s Youth Hockey Association will raffle off 200 guns and an all-terrain vehicle next month. Up for grabs are shotguns, handguns, hunting rifles and semi-automatic rifles.

Both raffles were planned long before the shooting in Newtown invigorated calls for increased gun control. That didn’t stop critics from blasting the raffles as, at best, in poor taste and, at worst, criminal.

John Rosenthal, founder and director of the Massachusetts-based Stop Handgun Violence, called the chiefs’ raffle “insane” and “criminally irresponsible.”

“In 33 states – including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont – the winner of this AR-15 can turn around the same day and sell it to anyone without an ID or background check,” Rosenthal said. “They should cancel their raffle and give away a nice mountain bike or snowmobile.”

Jonathan Lowy, director of the legal action program at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said he knows of no state in which the raffle would be illegal. But “having these gun giveaways and gun raffles can trivialize the seriousness of firearms,” Lowy said.

In a letter posted on the chiefs association website, Salem Police Chief Paul Donovan extended his sympathies to the families of those killed in Newtown but stressed it and other tragic shootings “are contrary to lawful and responsible gun ownership.”

Donovan, who did not respond to interview requests, wrote that the raffle’s rules require that winners meet all applicable state and federal laws, including background checks. The goal of the raffle – to raise $30,000 to offset the cost of the weeklong police cadet training academy – has already been met. The 1,000 raffle tickets, at $30 apiece, sold out last month.

Three of the guns being raffled off are named on a list of weapons that would be prohibited under a proposed ban introduced by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the wake of the Sandy Hook rampage. That proposal would also ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

While the Newtown shooting has intensified the criticism of the chiefs’ raffle, other giveaways have had similarly inauspicious timing.

After a 2011 shooting rampage in Arizona wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, the county Republican Party raffled off a Glock handgun to raise money for voter outreach. Its slogan was “Help Pima GOP get out the vote and maybe help yourself to a new Glock.” The Republican Party’s interim county chairman said at the time he didn’t think there was anything inappropriate about the promotion.

Missouri state Rep. John McCaherty raised campaign funds last August by raffling off an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a month after a similar gun was used in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting that killed 12 people and wounded 58. McCaherty didn’t return calls seeking comment.

The owner of an Atlanta-area sporting goods store doesn’t understand the outrage.

Read More

The following examples of identity theft schemes are written from public record documents on file in the court records in the judicial district in which the cases were prosecuted.

Husband and Wife Sentenced for Fraud and Identity Theft

On January 30, 2013, in Roanoke, Va., Michelle A. Ferguson, of Roanoke, Va., was sentenced to 29 months in prison for conspiracy to commit fraud and stealing the identities of others. Her husband, William J. Ferguson Jr., was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his participation in the conspiracy to commit fraud. According to court documents, the Fergusons operated a tax return preparation business out of their Roanoke home and committed fraud in two specific manners. When meeting with clients face-to-face to prepare their taxes, the Fergusons would have their clients sign the return without reviewing its contents. The returns were set-up to have any refunds deposited directly into an account controlled by the Fergusons. To maximum refunds, the Ferguson, without the knowledge of their clients, included phony Schedule C’s, Profit and Loss from Business, to the returns. Once the tax refund was received by the Fergusons, they would write a check to each client for a fraction of the total refund received. In addition, the defendants filed false tax returns using stolen social security numbers. The individuals who had their identity stolen did not receive any portion of the proceeds obtained through the false claim for refund.

Tax Preparer Sentenced for Identity Theft and Tax Fraud

On January 29, 2013, in Boston, Mass., Rosa Ivette Colon, of Milford, Mass., was sentenced to 61 months in prison and three years of supervised release for filing hundreds of false income tax returns for her clients and identity theft. She was also ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to the IRS. In August 2012, Colon pleaded guilty to a 32-count indictment charging her with aggravated identity theft, filing false claims with the IRS, and forging endorsements on United States Treasury checks. Colon operated a business called X-Press Taxes in Somerville, Mass. During the tax years 2004 through 2010, she prepared hundreds of false income tax returns for her clients. On numerous occasions, when preparing income tax returns for clients, Colon prepared two different versions of the return. Colon gave one version of the return to the client, but filed another version seeking a larger refund with the IRS, and kept the additional fraudulent amount for herself. In addition, Colon submitted false personal income tax returns to the IRS on her own behalf. Colon also unlawfully used the identities of three individuals in connection with her fraudulent tax refund scheme.

Dominican National Sentenced for Identity Trafficking Scheme

On January 29, 2013, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rafael Joaquin Beltre-Beltre, formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his leading role in trafficking the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and corresponding identity documents. In addition Beltre-Beltre will forfeit $424,793 in illegal proceeds and be deported to the Dominican Republic after the completion of his sentence. On September 4, 2012, Beltre-Beltre pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and one count of international money laundering. Beltre-Beltre admitted that he and his co-conspirators sold personal identifying information pertaining to real Puerto Rican U.S. citizens, including minors, and that he knew some of the identities would be used to commit tax fraud and some would be used to fraudulently apply for U.S. passports.

Florida Man Sentenced for Income Tax Fraud

On January 24, 2013, in Tallahassee, Fla., Marvens Jean-Paul, of Opa Locka, Florida, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $280,285 in restitution. Jean-Paul pleaded guilty in 2012 to two counts of conspiracy to file false claims, seven counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft based upon his involvement in schemes to file false claims for more than $1 million in federal tax refunds in 2010 and 2011. According to court documents, Jean-Paul admitted to stealing personal identifying information from an office on the campus of a Florida university. Illegally using the information, Jean-Paul and his co-conspirators filed false tax returns. At Jean-Paul’s direction, his co-defendants, Kimle Fils-Aime and Guerline St. Charles, cashed tax refund checks generated by one of the schemes at a bank where they worked as tellers. In addition, Jean-Paul arranged for the illegally obtained tax refunds to be loaded onto prepaid debit cards, which were used to wire transfer cash. Fils-Aime was previously sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $86,748 in restitution. St. Charles was previously sentenced to five years’ probation, with eight months’ home detention, and ordered to pay $73,320 in restitution.

Florida Woman Sentenced on Identity Theft and Fraud Charges

On January 23, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla., Regina Ward, of Gainesville, Fla., was sentenced to 13 months in prison and three years of supervised release for charges related to identity theft, fraud against the United States, and Treasury check fraud. Ward was also ordered to pay $6,500 in restitution to the IRS. According to court documents, in February 2012, Ward met with an undercover agent (UC) posing as an individual willing and capable of cashing United States Treasury checks without proper identification. Ward presented the UC with a Treasury check for $12,727, in the name of another individual. Ward negotiated a check-cashing fee with the UC and advised that she had other checks that she needed to cash. Ward sold the Treasury check to the UC for $6,500. Later that same month, Ward met with the UC again and attempted to cash two additional Treasury checks. During the meeting, Ward sold ten stolen identities for the purpose of filing fraudulent federal income tax returns. She sold these identities for $850 each.

Read More