Nassau County, NY – 1 March 2019 – Five people have been charged in what officials are calling a massive credit union loan fraud ring, targeting at least five credit unions, including two of the nation’s largest. A credit repair company owner, a Capital One Employee and an ex-NFL hopeful are amongst the alleged fraudsters.
According to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Philip Bartlett, these individuals tried to steal more than $1 million through their sophisticated scheme.
At least five major credit unions, including Navy, Federal, Pentagon and Nassau Educators Federal Credit Unions were targeted, and hundreds of individuals stolen identities used.
Officals claim that Dacson Sears of Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, the operation’s alleged ringleader, also owns a credit repair consultancy. He is charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, three counts of first-degree identity theft and first-degree scheme to defraud. Bail was set at $250,000 bond or $125,000 cash and if convicted of the top charge, he could spend as many as five to 15 years in prison.
Sears, an economics major and owner of a credit repair service, allegedly targeted victims who he believed would have credit scores above 680, including teachers from Great Neck, Lawrence and Syosset, and employees from hospitals such as NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola and opened loans between $7,500 and $35,000 online in their names using faked tax documents, utility bills and phone numbers. He reportedly found their names through publicly available websites and purchased additional information through the Dark Web based in Africa for $4 per identity, authorities said.
“Sears was assuming that those teachers would have good credit scores or that they were people of means,” District Attorney Madeline Singas said of the Great Neck teachers.
Also charged were Nyantakyi Boateng of Perth Amboy, NJ; Konstantinos Toikas of Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn; Amber Mantock of Astoria, Queens; and Summer Aboushady of Jackson Heights, Queens.
Singas said in a statement. “Over the course of a year these defendants allegedly operated a highly sophisticated and organized loan and identity theft ring. The effects of this type of fraud are devastating for those who have to reclaim their identities and the banks that have to recoup financial losses.”
Officials reported that since around February 2018, Sears filed more than 100 credit union loan applications at Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Digital Credit Union, Comtrust Federal Credit Union and Navy Federal Credit Union.
He allegedly used hundreds of stolen identities of people with good credit. The ring allegedly created profiles of their information, ran their credit reports and obtained additional information about the victims. In many instances, the victims were targeted through various sources that include school and hospital websites.
Sears is also charged with opening credit cards in the victims’ names.
Members of the ring allegedly took out loans that ranged from $7,500 to $35,000. These loans were filed electronically under the stolen identities, and include the victims’ names and social security numbers, officials said. This scheme often included a money order used to open the loan, and once the credit union approved it, the loan money was deposited into bank accounts opened in the victims’ names.
Officials say Abooshady, while working as a banker at Capital One, allegedly opened account information and sold it to the other members of the ring. She allegedly also opened accounts for Sears in the names of the stolen identities so that Sears could have loan proceeds deposited into the accounts.
Sears, Boateng, Mantock and Toikas are also alleged to have withdrawn the loan proceeds from ATMs, which were then spent on car loans, rent and airline tickets. Sears and Boateng also opened accounts with Aboushady’s assistance. Boateng and Toikas also deposited loan proceed checks into bank accounts controlled by the ring, officials said.
Nyantakyi Boateng, an undrafted wide-receiver who attended the Giants rookie mini-camp in 2010, was also allegedly involved in the fraud scheme. The New York Post reports that this was not his first run-in with the law. He was busted in Gainesville, Florida, in 2007, and charged with burglary residence, battery, and criminal mischief.
The ring allegedly stole $250,000, though investigators are still sorting through evidence.
Officials learned of the scheme when credit unions realized that some loans were in arrears, and when credit union employees determined that clients they thought they lent money to were actually identity theft victims and had yet to know that their identities were stolen.
Now, officials are actively working with all of the known victims to review and repair the damage to their credit.
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