Identity Theft Protection Lock

This article is not an attempt to embarrass the thousands of fine men and woman of law enforcement. However, this storey will show you how defenseless most people are against identity theft. The following information was taken from a May 16, 2008 press release from the United States Attorneys Office, District of Massachusetts and from the actual sworn affidavit of Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Michael J. Kreizenbeck.

You are covered by our $1 Million Total Service Guarantee from the moment you enroll. If in the unfortunate event your identity is misused while you are a LifeLock member, we will pay professionals to resolve the problem for you – up to $1 million!

Special Agent Kreizenbeck is assigned to the Public Corruption Squad of the Boston Office of the F.B.I. Special Agent Kreizenbeck personally participated in the investigation of violations of federal law by three former Boston Police Officers conspiring to protect the transfer of more than 100 kilograms of cocaine. The ringleader of these three, who we will sometimes refer to as “bad guy”, is a 43 year old man who lived in Boston and on the fourth day of his trial, November 8, 2007 pled guilty to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1 kilogram of heroin, two counts of attempting to aid and abet the distribution of 5 kilograms of cocaine and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offence.

Trial testimony – and dozens of recordings – revealed that prior to the initiation of an F.B.I. and Boston Police Department sting operation the bad guy was involved in: identity theft, wire fraud, steroid smuggling, assault and battery, framing an innocent man, and running illegal stripper parties, among other things. The bad guy was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. His criminal conduct first surfaced with the F.B.I. while they were investigating an identity theft ring being operated along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

A cooperating witness (CW) had been acting as a runner for the identity theft ring, selling fraudulently obtained retail store gift cards to regular buyers. Shortly after gaining employment with the identity theft ring, the CW met the former officer who expressed an interest in buying the fraudulent gift cards from the CW. The CW had known the bad guy years before and they rekindled their relationship via these illegal cards. As their relationship developed, the bad guy began to disclose, and to request the CW’s assistance in a wide range of criminal activities.

The bad guy and another of the former Boston Police officers were involved in a portion of these criminal activities. At the beginning of the investigation the bad guy was buying fraudulent retail store gift cards from the identity theft ring operating along the eastern seaboard including eastern Massachusetts. The members of the identity theft ring were using personal identifying information such as names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of innocent victims to obtain false identification documents in the names of the innocent victims, but were using photographs of members of the identity theft ring. Then, they used these documents to open instant lines of credit at major, popular retail outlets. With the fraudulent credit lines, the identity thieves obtained gift cards (or store credit cards) and merchandise. Some of the cards were sold for half there face value to persons who knew they were fraudulent. The bad guy was one such purchaser. Early in their renewed friendship, during the fall of 2004, the CW explained to the bad guy that the cards were obtained in a fraudulent manner and the bad guy acknowledged and continued to buy them.

Between November 2003 and March 2006, the CW handed over $148,000 in gift cards to the bad guy, of which the bad guy purchased approximately $108,000 worth of cards at fifty percent of their face value. Approximately $40,000 in cards were supplied to the bad guy by the CW in payment for related illegal activities. The first approximately $18,000 worth of cards sold by the CW to the bad guy were received by the CW from the identity theft ring. Then the CW severed his ties with the identity theft ring, without the bad guy knowing, and the FBI began to purchase the cards, and the CW continued to represent to the bad guy that they were obtained by fraudulent means.

The bad guy would use these cards himself to buy items like a plasma TV set, and expensive gifts for his friends, family and girlfriend. He also used the cards to buy building supplies for his part-time construction business. He would also occasionally distribute the cards, sometimes selling them at a profit. The bad guys involvement was not limited to buying and selling fraudulently obtained gift cards. In December 2004, he agreed to supply personal identifying information to the CW to be used by the identity theft ring to obtain fraudulent lines of credit. Between December 2004 and March 2006, the bad guy provided names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers (identifiers) and other information to the CW of over 160 individual people. The CW paid the former Police officer over $35,000 for the identifiers. Some of the identifiers belonged to persons he had arrested or stopped while working as a Boston Police officer. He obtained other identifiers by accessing the Registry of Motor Vehicles information for expensive vehicles he saw while working or that were provided by the CW to him.

The former officer used Boston Police Department computers to access and obtain registry information. For example, in one recorded conversation on June 2, 2005, the bad guy boasted “it’s easy for me, I just run people’s plates, you know. I go look for fucking fancy cars and fucking run ‘em in like Brookline and Cambridge…” In another recorded conversation on June 27, 2005, during which he provided identifiers for two persons, he said that he pulled one of them over for running a red light and that he was driving a “$165,000 car”, and boasted, “that mother fucker right there is gold.” In addition, on occasion the former officer would have an associate who worked at a local bank check the credit histories of the identifiers he provided the CW, and would advise the CW which of the victims had high credit scores. From November 2003 until May 2006, the former Police officer was recorded more than 80 times discussing or participating in the identity theft scheme.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Identity Theft, Identity Thieves in prison. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.