Archive for the ‘Theft Investigations’ Category

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Wisconsin Woman Accused of Selling Fake Facebook Stock

By Dawn in Crime, fraud, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, scam, Theft Investigations at February 3rd, 2012 | No comments

 

 

 

 

 

A Wisconsin woman has been charged with theft over accusations she tried to profit from Facebook’s much-anticipated plans to go public by selling fake stock in the social media giant.

Facebook announced on Wednesday its plans for the biggest-ever Internet IPO.

In a criminal complaint on Thursday, prosecutors said Marianne Oleson told acquaintances she obtained $1 million in stock because her daughter was an acquaintance of Facebook’s founder and persuaded several people to buy fictitious Facebook stock over a four-month period.

The Oshkosh woman was charged with 31 counts of theft, forgery and making misleading statements.

One of Oleson’s victims was a contractor who did work at her house in September. Oleson paid the contractor for the work with $13,980 worth of fake Facebook stock, the complaint alleged.

The contractor, who also paid $10,000 in cash to the woman for additional stock, grew suspicious when he found she lied about her name and various oddities on documents referring to the transaction. Read the full article »

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Would-Be Robber Uses Threat of Infection as His Weapon

By Dawn in Crime, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, robbery, Terrorism, Theft Investigations at January 20th, 2012 | No comments

 

Staph Infection Bug

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, someone surprises you. This incident sounds like an episode that could be written for one of my favorite dark comedy TV programs.

“Give me the money or I’ll touch you” was essentially the threat.

Police say Fred Parker, 41, tried to rob a western Pennsylvania gambling parlor by threatening to spread a staph infection. Police said he walked into Lucky’s Internet Cafe in Sharon, PA on Monday night and began touching the walls and gambling machines, claiming he has MRSA – a serious staph infection that resists antibiotics.

Parker then made his way to the cashier and told him he had a deadly and highly contagious disease and offered to walk away if the cashier gave him money. Sharon police Chief Mike Menster says Parker threatened to infect the cashier if he didn’t give Parker money. The chief tells The Herald newspaper of Sharon, “It’s our first case of robbery by threat of an infectious disease.”

Parker also gave the cashier a note identifying himself as an “officer with the U.S. gambling commission,” Menster said.

The cashier apparently didn’t find Parker’s threat of infection to be scary enough and refused to give the would-be robber the money. Parker turned around and left. I wonder what would have happened if Parker had made a move to touch the cashier. You can just see it now – the cashier running around the cafe being chased by a man threatening to touch him.  

A description was given to the police and Parker was arrested a short time later. Ironically, he was captured in a Rite Aid store. Maybe he was getting medicine for those nasty symptoms.

He remains in jail after being unable to post bond.

The police weren’t messing around. They not only charged Parker with robbery, but they also charged him with making terrorist threats.

Sources: Security Today, Huffington Post, Effingham Daily News

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Hand in the Cookie Jar: Girl Scout Official Plundered $311,000

By Dawn in Crime, MSI Detective Services, Stolen Property, Theft Investigations at January 13th, 2012 | No comments

 

 

 

 

Talk about getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

A former finance director at the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York admitted on Tuesday to stealing more than $300,000 from the organization. She is Yaasmin Hooey, 35, of Manhattan.

That’s enough for more than 80,000 boxes of Tagalongs (Peanut Butter Patties). But Hooey wasn’t buying cookies. Instead, she was spending the money on cruises, cosmetic laser procedures and a $13,000 diamond ring. She also spent $18,000 in bars and restaurants, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Life is not going to be so luxurious behind prison bars.

She plead guilty to second-degree grand larceny. Hooey admitted stealing $311,568 between September 2008 and December 2010. “She began stealing from the non-profit as soon as she began working for them,”  said assistant district attorney Lauren Littman.

Hooey admitted forging the signature of the organization’s then-chief executive and writing 65 checks to herself from a payroll account. Nine wire transfers also moved money from two of the nonprofit’s bank accounts to Hooey’s own account.

In addition to spending the stolen money on luxury items, she used some of the money for “personal expenses” including groceries, a gym membership, clothing, and commuter train tickets.

She will be sentenced in the New York Supreme Court on March 6.

Read story@ msnbc

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How to Steal an Identity in Seven Easy Steps

By Dawn in Crime, Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, MSI Detective Services, Technology, Theft Investigations at January 12th, 2012 | No comments

 

 

 

 

People who have been the victim of identify theft know it can take months or even years to clean up the mess. It is one of the most stressful experiences one can have. The story I am about to share is very real. A close friend of mine was a victim of such a crime and the fact that someone was able to reset that person’s email password was all they needed to gain their personal information. Ironically, this person didn’t use simple passwords, yet it was still done. Still, make your passwords and security questions unique and don’t use the same information for multiple accounts. In fact, make the answers to your questions incorrect – just random information that isn’t even true. You may have to write down this information since all of us have so many accounts – making it impossible to remember everything. But, this minor inconvenience sure beats the major nightmare you will live if your identity is even stolen.

Herbert Thompson seems like just another smart academic software developer who loves formulas and geeking out. But he’s also stolen the identities of several casual acquaintances. In fact, in one case he gained access to a bank account in seven shockingly simple steps. He didn’t use any programming tricks, just a little sleuth work.

As part of an experiment and with the permission of some people he barely knew, Thompson stole identities to show the public how easy it is to get access to personal data and banking information. He proved it only requires some simple surfing for freely available personal data. What the following steps show is how vulnerable we all are to security breach. Read the full article »

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