Fergie's Tech Blog

Eight Indicted For $22M Identity Theft Scam Against AT&T, T-Mobile

Tim Wilson writes on Dark Reading:

Eight defendants were arraigned in a Brooklyn court yesterday for allegedly using the stolen identities of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Asurion customers to steal some $22 million worth of wireless equipment and services.

An indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn federal court yesterday morning charging Courtney Beckford, Gabe Beizem, Rawl Davis, Lennox Lambert, Marsha Montayne, Saul Serrano, Ron Shealey, and Rohan Stewart, with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. Beizem, Montayne, and Stewart were also charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, between February 2005 and July 2009, Beizem -- an owner of Got Wireless (aka USA Wireless), a former authorized AT&T and T-Mobile dealer that operated in Brooklyn -- obtained dealer access codes for AT&T's and T-Mobile's online customer databases. Stewart, the owner of KP Wireless -- an authorized T-Mobile wireless device dealer operating in West Palm Beach, Florida -- also obtained dealer access codes for T-Mobile's customer database.

Using these access codes, Beizem, Stewart, and Montayne, and others, allegedly obtained existing customer information from the customer databases, including customers' names, addresses, and personal identifying information, the indictment says. Montayne, and others, then fraudulently assumed the identities of existing customers and obtained new wireless devices without payment and without the customers' permission.

posted by Fergie @ 8/20/2009 09:48:00 PM