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$50K Bitcoin Scam Gets Two Men Detained By ICE For Deportation: Lebanon DA $50K Bitcoin Scam Gets Two Men Detained By ICE For Deportation: Lebanon DA
$50K Bitcoin Scam Gets Two Men Detained By ICE For Deportation: Lebanon DA Two men convicted in a $50,000 Bitcoin scam in Lebanon County have been detained by federal authorities for deportation, officials announced. Digvijaysinh Chauhan, 23, and Hemal Patel, 26, were sentenced for felony theft and conspiracy charges on Tuesday, March 12, 2025, before the Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas, according to the district attorney’s office. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) immediately took them into custody for deportation proceedings. The scam began in January 2024 when victims received fraudulent messages claiming their bank accounts had been hacked, authori…

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by Jillian Pikora
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Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ
Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ A Pennsylvania man who acted as a "money mule" in a massive pandemic fraud scheme that funneled more than $1.5 million in stolen relief funds to overseas criminals will spend more than three years behind bars, federal officials announced. James G. Miller Jr., 53, of Scranton, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the wire fraud operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a release on Monday, March 3. Investigators say Miller helped move stolen pandemic aid—including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Lost Wage Assistance Paymen…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
$700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says $700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says
$700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says A slick con artist posing as a PayPal agent scammed a 74-year-old Pennsylvania man out of nearly $700,000 in gold and cryptocurrency, authorities revealed on Friday, Feb. 28. Hirtik Hemchand Khatri, 24, of Lawrence Township, New Jersey, allegedly orchestrated a high-stakes fraud that convinced the victim to empty his savings, fearing he’d be arrested if he didn’t comply, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks said. Khatri, who twice showed up at the victim’s home in a Mercedes-Benz to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in gol…

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by Jillian Pikora
Police & Fire
Email Scam Collects Cash On Warrants: Montco DA Email Scam Collects Cash On Warrants: Montco DA
Email Scam Collects Cash On Warrants: Montco DA There is a new email scam in Montgomery County in which victims are asked to pay money for arrest warrants, authorities said. The scam emails say it’s coming from the “FDIC GOVERNMENT OFFICE WARRANT DIVISION” with a subject line of “MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE *FALSE CLAIMS DIVISION.*”  The email informs the resident that an arrest warrant has been issued for their failing to appear in court. To satisfy the warrant, the scam email instructs them to put money into a “digital escrow” via a Coinstar bitcoin terminal, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin&…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole
NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole UPDATE: A South Jersey man who paid $20,000 in bitcoin to have a 13-year-boy killed after they exchanged sexually explicit images was sentenced to six years in a federal penitentiary. John Michael Musbach, 34, of Haddonfield, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Musbach began communicating with the child in 2015 and soon after exchanged videos and photos that were discovered by the kid's parents, federal authorities said. Musbach was living in Galloway when members of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office raided …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds 'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds A 23-year-old British citizen who hacked the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates, among others, pleaded guilty in federal court to a host of related charges as part of a deal with the government. Joseph James O'Connor -- also known as "PlugwalkJoe" -- technically faces up to 77 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but will likely get somewhere between 10 to 20 years when all is said and done. The Liverpudlian hacker admitted during a plea hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 9, that he committed one of the largest high-pro…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY 13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY
13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY Thirteen people, including members of China’s security and intelligence services, have been charged with trying to recruit professors and others in the United States to act as agents for their country, federal authorities in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC announced. Tales of international intrigue include allegations that the defendants plotted to steal documents from a federal prosecutor's office to subvert a criminal investigation into a major Chinese company. Some of them are also charged in a spy-versus-spy encounter involving a $41,000 bribe in Bitcoin paid to an American…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge
Worldwide Ransomware Rampage: Iranians Hack NJ Town, PA Domestic Violence Shelter, Feds Charge Federal authorities are offering a $10 million reward to help locate a trio of Iranian nationals who held the computer systems of a New Jersey town, a domestic violence shelter in Pennsylvania and hundreds of other victims across the U.S. and abroad hostage in a series of hack attacks. Using Microsoft’s BitLocker security tool, the hackers locked up and then stole secure files before sending ransom notes – some of which were spit out on the victims’ printers, the FBI said on Wednesday, Sept. 14. The unidentified shelter ended up paying $13,000 in bitcoin to retrieve its files, according to …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online The wife of Bergen County-based Instagram influencer "Jay Mazini” was in on a plot to kidnap, threaten and terrorize a Fort Lee man who’d posted negative comments about him on social media, authorities said Friday. Joumana Danoun, 21, of Paterson also then tried to get the victim to drop the charges, they said. Danoun joined her husband in the Bergen County Jail following her arrest Thursday. "Mazini" of Edgewater, whose real name is Jebara J. Igbara, 26, has been held in the county lockup since authorities arrested him on kidnapping charges in March. An FBI detainer prevents a local judg…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Instagram Celeb Held In Bergen Jail For Kidnapping, Terrorizing Man Who Trashed Him Online Instagram Celeb Held In Bergen Jail For Kidnapping, Terrorizing Man Who Trashed Him Online
Instagram Celeb Held In Bergen Jail For Kidnapping, Terrorizing Man Who Trashed Him Online An Instagram influencer and two associates kidnapped a man in Bergen County, then stripped him naked and held a machete to his neck while threatening to kill him if he didn’t remove negative social media posts, authorities charged. Jebara J. Igbara, 25, told the victim that a video of the kidnapping would be released to social media if he didn’t do what he was told, they said. Earlier this week, federal authorities in Brooklyn charged Ibarra with scamming four of his nearly 1 million followers out of Bitcoin virtual currency by sending them worthless wire transfers in exchange for more than…

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by Jerry DeMarco