Articles Tagged with identity theft

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A woman from California is facing several felonies after allegedly working for many years and in several locations as a dental hygienist without possessing the necessary legal credentials to do so. 

50-year-old woman Elizabeth “Mina” Larijani aka Elizabeth Garcia Costilla is from California. 

According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, between 2015 and 2020 Larijani worked as a dental hygienist at several offices in the cities of San Jose and Campbell. It was also asserted that she applied for additional dental hygienist positions during that timeframe.  

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A man was arrested when the authorities learned he was allegedly using a stolen ID to try to buy an $84,000 truck at a local dealership. 

25-year-old Javan Davenport resides in Columbus, Georgia. 

It was reported that on December 2, Davenport was approximately 280 miles from his listed home address, and he was visiting a car dealership. 

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Three men are facing charges after allegedly taking money from elderly people in Rhode Island in what is referred to as a “Grandparent Scam.”

21-year-old Bryan Valdez-Espinosa and 22-year-old Diego A. Alarcon reside in Union City, N.J. They were reportedly working together with Jason Hatcher, 39, from New York City in a scheme to defraud several people who have grandchildren.

It was reported that between June 9 and June 11, the trio reached out to at least 11 people in different areas of Rhode Island. The men allegedly asked them to provide money to help their grandchildren with legal troubles.

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A man who claimed he was making a Netflix movie in Hollywood has been accused of bilking $14 million out of the people he allegedly convinced to foot the bill for the false film.

Manhattan Beach, California, resident Adam Joiner ran a company called Dark Planet Pictures, LLC.

A few years ago, Joiner reportedly decided he wanted to work on a movie project for a 19th Century period piece casting famous Hollywood actors in the roles and gave it the preliminary title of “Legends.”

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The authorities have arrested a suspect who they allege was part of an identity theft ploy. They believe that the accused used the information, which was taken from an elderly man, to make over $50,000 in purchases.

The caregiver of an 80-year-old man who has dementia reportedly got a couple of bills in the mail in the name of the man for whom she works stating that he owed a dental clinic several thousands of dollars for work that he never had done.

After an investigation into the claims was opened, it was reportedly discovered that someone had used the victim’s personal information at the Friedman Dental Group to open a credit account. The person then had over $41,000 in dental procedures done, including a new set of implants to replace the teeth that had rotted in his mouth.

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Three people are being accused of creating fake airline employee identification cards in order to fly without having to buy tickets.

In early May of 2017, a man allegedly tried to take a flight out of Los Angeles International Airport on Spirit Airlines and when he was asked for identification he produced what is suspected as a manufactured card claiming that he is an employee of Mesa Airlines.

Upon investigation, the authorities purport that the man, identified as 25-year-old Alphonso Lloyd, was connected with two other suspects in the matter.

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A clerk employed at the Long Beach VA was allegedly found in possession of the identities and information belonging to over 1,000 patients of the facility leading to the arrest of the suspect.

On Thursday, on the property of the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, an employee of the facility was reportedly noticed operating a non-commercial vehicle with commercial license plates on the campus. On-site officers became suspicious when they recognized that the automobile had the wrong type of plate attached, and they ran a check leading them to perform a traffic stop when their search confirmed that the license plate was allegedly not registered to the vehicle to which it was affixed.

When an officer was speaking with the employee, a pill bottle without a label was allegedly seen which caused the officer to further inspect the inside of the vehicle. The personal information, including Social Security numbers, names, and dates of birth of 1,028 patients of the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Health Care System were allegedly found inside the employee’s vehicle. The officer also reported that over $1000 of federal property was also discovered during the search.

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A woman was taken into custody on allegations that she stole the identities of at least two of the elderly patients for whom she provided in-home health care, and used the information for her personal financial gain.

Aujana Johnson-Payne works for an agency in Orange County where she is sent on live-in assignments to clients’ homes, and she supplies them with meeting their healthcare needs. Many of the patients are senior citizens who live with debilitating symptoms after suffering strokes, developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other serious afflictions.

Johnson-Payne has been accused of abusing her position with two elderly patients in her care when at some point during her employment she reportedly stole their credit card or debit card information and assumed their identities to make purchases for herself.

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A Dana Point resident who allegedly made millions of dollars in purchases through fraudulent means at several businesses in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties is facing 89 charges for the schemes.

Over a nine-month period last year, businesses in three Southern California counties were the victims of a forced-sale scheme consisting of the perpetrator purchasing expensive merchandise with credit cards; some of which were fake and others were inactive. The standard authorization process that the credit card machines typically issue was surpassed by the customer requesting that the sales associate enter the transaction by hand or telling them to force the sale through.

When the transactions were processed by the credit card companies the merchants received notification that the payment was not approved.

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Two men dining at a Waffle House in Louisiana on Saturday allegedly left the restaurant without paying their bill totaling $7.81. Workers at the establishment notified law enforcement reporting the incident, and also disclosed that the men drove off in a U-Haul van.

While police took statements from employees of the restaurant, patrolling officers noticed a U-Haul fitting the description parked in the lot of a hotel in the vicinity. As they approached the van the officers immediately apprehended the driver, California resident Stayshawn D. Stephens. The passenger, identified as Richard A. Brown, of Indiana, tried to escape into the forest on foot, but a K-9 officer exposed his whereabouts and he was taken into custody.

Upon inspection of the contents of the van, Deputy Chief Daniel Hunter reported finding credit card skimmers, which are electronic devices with the ability to store personal information gathered by swiping credit cards. They also discovered fake ID’s, credit cards, and a bill from a Waffle House for $7.41.

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