Technology has made it easier than ever for criminals to trick people into handing over their money, and local residents are often falling prey to new baiting methods.

Verona police receive more reports of identity theft than any other type of crime, said Verona Police Chief Doug Huber. Cedar Grove officers contend with “a steady flow” of such complaints, said Cedar Grove Police Sgt. John Kennedy.
Keep yourself safe

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Don’t input your credit card number online unless the website is reputable. Sometimes a tiny icon of a padlock appears to symbolize a higher level of security to transmit data. This icon is not a guarantee of a secure site, but it provides some assurance.
Never give your credit card number out to someone over the phone unless you made the call and know with whom you are speaking.
Do not provide your social security number to prospective employers over the Internet, especially when first interacting with them.
Be cautious of online job postings which promise exaggerated earnings for your work.
Be leery of emails and phone calls about winning a contest if you do not remember entering that contest.
Beware of companies that charge a fee prior to issuing any prize they have promised you.
Avoid filling out forms in unsolicited email messages that ask you for even the most basic of personal information.
If something appears too good to be true, it probably is.

Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center

Not sure how to handle a phone call or email? Call the police.

Cedar Grove Police: 973-239-4100
Verona Police: 973-239-5000

In Verona, officers have been fielding so many calls about identity theft that they have stopped logging all of them in their record books, Huber said. Although there have been about 40 reports filed so far this year, there are “at least another 40” that are unaccounted for in police computers.

“If we tell them over the phone what to do, we don’t even make a report,” Huber explained.

And most people don’t even call the police for such crimes, he added. “For every 15 to 20 reports we do receive, that probably means there’s 120 incidents,” Huber said. “What we have on file is just the miniscule amount.”

Select officers from the Verona and Cedar Grove departments are undergoing special training from the Essex County Cyber Crimes Unit, learning how to trace email messages and Internet offenses, officials said. Verona sent two officers to training once a week for about 10 weeks, and then those same officers attend monthly follow-up training, Huber said.

“It’s a sign of the times … everybody’s info is out there on the Internet. Very little is kept private today and thieves – they exploit that,” Kennedy said.

Credit cards

A criminal opening a credit card account in someone else’s name is among the top problems with which both departments are currently contending. Perpetrators employ various methods to get a person’s name, address, birthday and social security number, using that information to open a new account.

How do perpetrators get the information they need?

They often send fraudulent emails, telling recipients that they won a prize and need to submit a form full of personal information in order to claim the prize. In more sophisticated scams, criminals send a phony email with a hyperlink in it, attaching text to lure you into clicking on that link. Once you click, the email sender can hack into your computer and gain access to all of your documents and websites, Kennedy said.

Another common problem amongst Verona and Cedar Grove residents is having credit card numbers stolen, even though they still have the actual card in their possession, Huber said. Employees in shopping malls, restaurants and gas stations sometimes take down customers’ credit card numbers. Employees at the cards’ issuing company or bank have been known to do the same, Kennedy said.

Once someone opens a fraudulent credit card account in your name, or gets your credit card number, he/she often uses the Internet to make purchases.

Tracking the home address of the offending shopper can be difficult, Kennedy explained, because he/she can log in from any of the infinite public locations that offer wireless Internet. And, extra sly criminals will have Internet purchases intentionally mailed to the wrong home address. Then, the criminals will show up at that address to pick up the goods, apologizing for the “mistake” in having items shipped there, the sergeant added.

Solving such crimes can take several weeks, Kennedy said, citing the “lag time” in retrieving necessary information from the credit card companies, banks, online retailers, public locations where the offending computer was used, and so on.

“It’s like assembling a puzzle – with a piece here and a piece there,” Kennedy said.

Usually, the criminals hail from other states. Even when they are caught, most victims from Cedar Grove decline to head to a faraway state for court proceedings, so the case gets dropped, Kennedy said,

Or, the credit card companies can’t be bothered with hassle for crimes involving a few hundred dollars, so they just reimburse victims and drop the case, Huber said. And once a victim has gotten his/her money back, the police investigation must end.

“These crimes are low risk, high gain,” Kennedy said. “Computer fraud is the crime of the present and the future.”

Calls for help

Verona and Cedar Grove residents have also been targeted by emails and phone calls that appear to be from a distressed family member who needs financial assistance, officials said.

There were three such instances in Verona last year where elderly residents fell for the trick, receiving calls from young people posing as their grandson/daughter, who asked for money due to an emergency. The residents wired hundreds of dollars each to what they thought was an account for a grandchild, Huber said.

Social networking websites can be used as fodder for such crimes, with, for example, perpetrators getting grandparents’ names and hometowns through a grandchild’s profile.

“They’re just fishing for that last piece of information they need,” Kennedy said, of criminals who use Facebook. Sometimes, perpetrators will make fraudulent Facebook accounts and “friend” people just for the sake of gleaning information from their profiles, Kennedy said. The average fake Facebook profile has 726 “friends,” he added, citing personal research.

Verona residents who recently sold items online were introduced to a less-common, but growing form of computer-related fraud, Huber said. The buyer “accidentally” sends way too much money for a purchase and then asks the seller for a check to make up the difference. Really, the buyer is just trying to get his hands on the seller’s checking account information, according to Huber.

“There are just so many different ideas and ways to get people out of money that it’s endless,” Huber said. “”It’s happened to policemen and their family members. It’s happened to everybody.”

The phone rings, you pick it up, and the caller identifies himself as an officer of the court. He says you failed to report for jury duty and that a warrant is out for your arrest. You say you never received a notice. To clear it up, the caller says he’ll need some information for “verification purposes”-your birth date, social security number, maybe even a credit card number.

This is when you should hang up the phone. It’s a scam.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Jury scams have been around for years, but have seen a resurgence in recent months. Communities in more than a dozen states have issued public warnings about cold calls from people claiming to be court officials seeking personal information. As a rule, court officers never ask for confidential information over the phone; they generally correspond with prospective jurors via mail.

The scam’s bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective. Facing the unexpected threat of arrest, victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation.

“They get you scared first,” says a special agent in the Minneapolis field office who has heard the complaints. “They get people saying, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m not a criminal. What’s going on?'” That’s when the scammer dangles a solution-a fine, payable by credit card, that will clear up the problem.

With enough information, scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts.

“It seems like a very simple scam,” the agent adds. The trick is putting people on the defensive, then reeling them back in with the promise of a clean slate. “It’s kind of ingenious. It’s social engineering.”
More Information

Want to learn more about new and common scams like this one? Then sign up for our e-mail alerts.

In recent months, communities in Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, California, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Hampshire reported scams or posted warnings or press releases on their local websites. In August, the federal court system issued a warning on the scam and urged people to call their local District Court office if they receive suspicious calls. In September, the FBI issued a press release about jury scams and suggested victims also contact their local FBI field office.

In March, USA.gov, the federal government’s information website, posted details about jury scams in their Frequently Asked Questions area. The site reported scores of queries on the subject from website visitors and callers seeking information.

The jury scam is a simple variation of the identity-theft ploys that have proliferated in recent years as personal information and good credit have become thieves’ preferred prey, particularly on the Internet. Scammers might tap your information to make a purchase on your credit card, but could just as easily sell your information to the highest bidder on the Internet’s black market.

Protecting yourself is the key: Never give out personal information when you receive an unsolicited phone call.

Just north of San Diego a man stopped for a routine traffic offense in Diamond Bar led to the arrest of five people who were charged with 19 felony counts of identity theft and counterfeiting on Friday, May 25.

Police never know what will happen when they pull over a car for reckless driving, running a stop sign, or an other “routine stop.” However, what they have been taught is that nothing is routine. One seemingly simple seatbealt violation stop recently ended up with the driver being charged with possession of marijuana, possession of heroin, possession of heroin with the intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number, possession of a handgun while involved in a drug trafficking crime, and use of a handgun while engaged in a drug trafficking crime.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

In the Diamond Bar case the driver of the vehicle was discovered to be already on parole. After talking with them, the officers asked both men for their identification cards. That was when this case took a sudden right turn.
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“Both Danny Martinez of Whittier and his passenger, Brian Padilla of Pico Rivera, were in possession of several counterfeit driver’s licenses, credit cards and social security numbers that didn’t belong to them,” Lt. Chris Blasnek said. “Both were arrested at the scene.”

While the deputies were talking with the men in the first car, a second car with two women pulled up behind them and stopped. That was this crime ring’s second mistake. Immediately the deputies approached the vehicle and began to question the women. They also had counterfeit driver’s licenses and credit cards on them. Both were arrested immediately.

Further questioning revealed that the four suspects were renting a room at a nearby hotel. A search of the room uncovered more evidence of identity theft and counterfeiting, including computers, a credit card reader and a machine used to create credit cards according to the investigators. A third woman, Jacqueline Acosta, was arrested at the motel.

It has not yet been disclosed how the thieves got the Social Security numbers, original credit cards, or how many people or businesses may have been compromised.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Florida man faces sentencing for participating in what federal authorities say was an extensive identity theft scheme in which he and another man targeted purses in cars.

Michael Johnson of Miami Gardens is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford. A jury last year found Johnson and Jermaine Jones of West Palm Beach, Fla., guilty of bank fraud, conspiracy and identity theft offenses.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Authorities say from 2007 to 2010, Johnson and Jones stole identifications, checks, debit cards, and credit cards.

Authorities said Johnson, Jones and others recruited women, who typically had substance abuse problems, to cash the checks at banks.

Prosecutors said numerous identities were stolen and banks suffered losses of several hundred thousand dollars.

Jones received a 20-year sentence earlier this month.