55 in cyber-identity theft ring indicted

A group of cybercriminals stole personal and financial information from charitable contributors to the UJA-Federation of New York, and some well-heeled businesspeople, to rip off banks and businesses of $2 million, Manhattan prosecutors charged Friday.

Fifty-five people were indicted on charges they were part of an identity theft and fraud ring that used corrupt employees at banks, the UJA-Federation and other businesses to steal the identities of more than 200 people and companies to pull off the scam from May 2010 until this September, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

The information was sold to outsiders who created counterfeit checks or used phone and online transfers to withdraw money from the victims' bank accounts, Vance said. At the same time, the suspects accessed credit card accounts to make duplicate cards that were used to buy luxury Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo items, the prosecutor explained.

"In the end, the banks bear the brunt of the financial damage," Vance noted. "But as is always the case in identity theft . . . [it] deprived the individuals of their good credit, their time and their peace of mind as many will spend a considerable amount of time to fix the damage these defendants are accused of inflicting."

The prosecutor said the latest case is the fourth major identity theft case to lead to indictments in the past month, including one involving skimming of credit card information by waiters in well-known restaurants.

Vance and NYPD Deputy Insp. Greg Antonsen said two subjects of the investigation had been found killed in Brooklyn in recent months. One of the victims was found with some counterfeit UJA-Federation checks in his pocket, Antonsen said.

According to Vance and Antonsen, the case illustrates how street gangs are moving into cybercrime. Some of the suspects had links to a Brooklyn gang known as the Outlaws, as well as the Crips and the Bloods, they said.

Vance singled out Tracey Nelson, 24, of Brooklyn, as being a key player in the fraud. While working for UJA-Federation, Nelson is accused of using her smartphone to take photos of donor checks and emailing them to her live-in boyfriend, Roberto Millar, 26, who was also indicted. Millar is charged with taking the information to create forged checks, and other crimes. Nelson was ordered held without bail. Millar had not been arraigned by late Friday.

In a statement, the UJA-Federation said Nelson had been suspended in August and later fired. The organization said no donors ultimately suffered financial losses.

The Associated Press noted that the indictment alleged that billionaire investor Ira Rennert and his wife, as well as philanthropies such as the Starr Foundation, and Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former head of American Insurance Group Inc., had their information stolen in the scam.