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NJ Man Admits Hatching $400,000 Homeless GoFundMe Scam
The mastermind of a GoFundMe scheme that conned 14,000 donors across the country out of $400,000 to purportedly benefit a homeless veteran admitted in federal court in New Jersey on Monday that he and his ex-girlfriend pocketed most of the money.
Mark D’Amico, 42, formerly of Bordentown, admitted concocting a bogus feel-good story about the supposed victim coming to the rescue of Katelyn McClure after she ran out of gas on Route 95 on her way home to New Jersey from Philadelphia.
Both McClure and the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., were in on the scheme, authorities said.
Together, D’Am…
NYC Crew Conspired To Scam Atlantic City Casinos Out Of $1.12 Million, Authorities Charge
A group of New York City con artists conspired to scam five Atlantic City casinos out of $1,120,000 by exchanging bogus bank checks for gaming chips, authorities said.
The Hard Rock casino rejected a check and the Golden Nugget permitted only incremental amounts, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Thursday.
But Caesars, the Borgata and the Ocean Casino Resort all honored $284,000 checks, losing a combined total of $852,000, he said.
The New Jersey State Police Casino Gaming Bureau and the Division of Criminal Justice Specialized Crimes Bureau began investigating soon a…
Scam ALERT: ‘Gypsy’ Thieves Are Back, Con Elderly Glen Rock Couple Out Of $18,000
SEEN IT? “Gypsy” scammers are out again, police warn, pointing to an elderly Glen Rock couple who came thisclose to losing $18,000.
The con artists, also called “travelers,” move around the East Coast using scams and diversions to get into people’s pocketbooks.
This time, a grifting group coincidentally came to the door of a couple who’d called a legitimate roofing company for help, Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann said.
When the couple asked whether they were their contractors, they said they were.
They then “proceeded to cover the entire roof with some sort of tar or rubberized as…
Grandparent Scam: Elderly Hillsdale Resident Loses $9,000, Police Make Arrest
A Hillsdale woman lost $9,000 in a “grandparent scam” to a Paterson thief who was identified and arrested by borough detectives, authorities said.
Elvis Guzman-Silia, 44, was nailed following a two-month investigation, Police Chief Chief Robert Francaviglia said Tuesday.
The victim told police a caller convinced her that her grandnephew had been arrested following a traffic accident and that she had to pony up $9,000 to bail him out, Francaviglia said.
A courier posing as a bail bonds worker then came to the victim’s house and collected the cash, the chief said.
Guzman-Silia was identifie…
LI Moving Company Owner, North Jersey Employee Admit $540,000 Low-Ball Extortion Scheme
A Nassau County moving company owner and a Passaic County woman who worked for him admitted in federal court that they extorted customers out of nearly $550,000 with the old “low-ball” scam.
Lior Atiyas, 42, of Hewlett, Long Island began regularly low-balling estimates to move household goods, then jacking up the price by two to three times once the items were on the trucks, in early 2016, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Friday.
He then refused to deliver the goods until the customers paid up, Carpenito said.
Atiyas recruited Lola Larios, 37, of Haledon into the scheme when she joined t…
Englewood Swindler Admits Conning Families Out Of $1.5M In Cosmetics Company Scheme
A former Englewood resident admitted in federal court that he scammed three investors out of $1.5 million with a bogus cosmetics company.
Matthew Benjamin, 53, used the money instead for car and house rental payments, food, international travel, legal fees, technology equipment and summer camp tuition for family members, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Benjamin, currently of New York, told the victims that his purported company, Clear Solutions Group, had lucrative contracts to purchase closeout or excess cosmetic inventory from one company that he planned to sell to another, Carpenito…
