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PA Victims Scammed Out Of $2.2M By NJ Couple In Bogus Lottery Scheme: Cops
A couple from Secaucus is facing a litany of charges after scamming residents in multiple states out of more nearly $2.2 million, police said.
Akeem Lee and Majda Hodzic-Lee called victims in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, saying they'd won the "Publishers Clearing House Lottery," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
In exchange for the vehicles and large sums of money the victims were told they won, they were required by Lee and Hodzic-Lee to send cash, money orders and/or gift cards for taxes, fees and IRS …
Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For Armed PA Jewelry Robberies, Carjackings
An indictment of 16 members of a violent mid-Atlantic crime ring has been unsealed and the federal agencies are naming names.
Of the 16, eight of the alleged crime ring members were arrested in the morning on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, police in Fairfax County, Virginia announced later that day.
They were all arrested in connection to a violent crime spree that took place between Jan. 7, 2022, through Jan. 27, 2023.
The crime ring members were all from Maryland and the District of Columbia. They met with their accused leader – Trevor Wright, also known as “Taliban Glizzy” …
Mastermind Of Historic $175M Psychic Mail Scam Convicted, Feds Cite More Than 1M Victims
The mastermind of a mass-mailing scam that stole $175 million from more than a million victims, most of them elderly or ailing, was convicted by a federal jury in New York City.
Patrice Runner, a 57-year-old Canadian and French citizen, directed a ruthless psychic mail scheme for over two decades, beginning in 1994, the jurors found.
It was one of the largest -- if not the largest -- scam of its kind ever, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday, June 16, in announcing the verdict reached a day earlier on Long Island.
Runner sent mailings to millions of Americans that claimed t…
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam
A former New Jersey couple and a Nigerian national scammed more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged.
Martins Inalegwu, 34, of Philadelphia and Steincy Mathieu, 26, of Brooklyn cooked up the plot with Moses Chukwuebuka Alexander and several of his Nigerian brethren, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges.
Together, they trolled online dating and social media sites for willing marks, whom they “wooed with words of love” on the phone and in emails, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
T…
NJ Agent Posing As Hitman Halts PA Woman From Killing Ex-Husband's Wife, Daughter: Authorities
A Pennsylvania woman is accused of hiring a hitman to try to kill her husband's ex-wife and the wife's 13-year-old daughter, authorities in New Jersey said.
A tip came in earlier this month that Marilyn Zhou, 56, of Chadds Ford, was trying to meet with a murder-for-hire earlier this month, Mercer County Prosecutor AngeloJ. Onofri said.
Zhou met with an undercover officer posing as a hitman on Sunday, Dec. 18 in Trenton, where she said she wanted them to kill her ex-husband's new wife, then handed him two pictures of the victim, $21,000 in cash, rubber gloves and a towel for the slaying…
Feds Charge MD Man In $246,390 401(k) Theft From NJ Employee
A Maryland man conspired with others to steal $246,390 from a New Jersey worker’s 401(k), federal authorities charged.
Oladapo Sunday Ogunbiyi, 40, of Greenbelt, and others secretly tapped into the fund, added a bank account belonging to someone else and began steering money into it, an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court alleges.
“Ogunbiyi and others directed that the fraud proceeds be converted into cashier’s checks, which were provided to Ogunbiyi,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
“He then deposited the cashier’s checks into bank accounts under his control…
Cyber-Footsie Scammers From NJ, MD, VA Swindle $7 Million From Mostly Elderly Victims, Feds Say
Mostly elderly victims across the United States were conned out of a whopping $7 million by a quartet of romance scammers from New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia – all of whom were arrested by the FBI, authorities said.
The victims sent the money to the imposters thinking that they were helping out love interests, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
They lost a lot.
Arrested this past week, Sellinger said, were:
Nana Yaw Marfo, 37, of Virginia, who was accused of receiving at least $4.7 million;
Chevon Braxton, 42, of Maryland, who was accused of collecting at least $1.3 million;
Will…
Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere
New Jersey residents were among more than two dozen victims who lost a combined $6.8 million to a North Carolina con man running a Ponzi scheme, federal authorities charged.
David Schamens, 64, of Greensboro, NC, promised annual return rates of 12% to 30% when he began soliciting investments in 2014 in Secaucus-based TradeStream Analytics LTD, as well as in other entities with names such as TD Trading LLC, TFG Trading LLC, and Tradedesk Financial Group Inc., U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
He then launched Tradestream Algo Fund, an algorithm-based trading pool that he clai…
Feds: NJ Steel Drum Company Owner Admits Conning MD Manufacturer Out Of $20M
The owner of a New Jersey-based steel drum wholesaler admitted he conned a Maryland-based manufacturer out of nearly $20 million, federal authorities said.
Anthony P. Urcioli, Sr., 78, of Park Ridge, conspired with an employee of a New York company to produce bogus invoices for more drums than his Tunnel, Barrel & Drum Co, Inc. had delivered to the company's facility in Harford County, MD, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron said.
Urcioli, who's TBD's owner and president, split the excess funds he received with the employee -- who, in turn, gave 25% to a co-worker, Barron said.
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