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Busted Out Credit Cards Bust Defendants
May 24, 2018
I'm sure that you've read about crooks stealing personal identification and then running around charging all sorts of stuff on credit cards that they loaded with the information that they stole. Sure, I could do that -- you've probably said to yourself -- but if I applied for that job, they'd never hire me. I got the talent but not the know-how. Some of you may have even gone online to see if there's some kind of how-to guide you could read and learn the ropes yourself. A word of caution, if there's a free app showing you how to bust out credit cards but it requires you to provide your name, address, social security number, and father's middle name, I would likely decline but, you know, I'm just a suspicious kind of fellow. Maybe you're more trusting? If so, bust that move and go for it.
Recently, I came across a federal criminal case in which five defendants were each charged in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey with one count of conspiring to defraud financial institutions through the use of synthetic identities and fake credit cards. Federal prosecutors allege that the Defendants raked in over $2.5 million in criminal proceeds. If convicted, each Defendant faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. United States of America v. Talat Ali Maan, Syed Rehman, Kashif Idrees, Jaweed Wahed Ahmed, and Fatou Djambo (Criminal Complaint, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, No. 18-6095)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1065631/download
Rehman, Djambo, and Maan have been arrested but Ahmed and Idrees remain at large.
NOTE: The Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
For the curious among you, read the criminal Complaint and learn how to bust-out credit cards for fun and profit. The at-home version of this course teaches you about stealing identities, the art of manufacturing plastic cards, the ins and outs of defrauding financial institutions, and how to create a synthetic identity using actual family and friends (and, for extra credit, strangers and enemies!). For advanced users, you will learn how to enter the fun world of retail fraud. Finally, the online Credit Card Bust Out course will walk you step-by-step through the mechanics of starting your own sham company and creating drop addresses to cover your tracks.
WARNING: the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog does not recommend the Credit Card Bust Out app because at least five users were named as Defendants in a federal criminal proceeding. You may wish to await the launch of Credit Card Bust Out app version 2.0 with bug fixes and new and improved user-friendly interaction. Also, if you use the online Credit Card Bust Out app, consider purchasing the Federal Prison Bust Out app.
As set forth in the Complaint under the heading "Overview of the Conspiracy":
1. At all times relevant to this Complaint:
READ the FULL TEXT Complainta . Defendants TALAT ALI MAAN ("MAAN"), SYED REHMAN ("REHMAN"), KASHIF IDREES ("IDREES"), JAWEED WAHED AHMED ("AHMED"), and FATOU DJAMBO ("DJAMBO"), along with other known and unknown uncharged co-conspirators (collectively, the "Co-Conspirators"), engaged in a fraudulent scheme to use stolen and fraudulently altered identities to obtain credit cards from financial institutions and then use those credit cards to make purchases that they had no intention to repay, leaving the financial institutions to bear the losses of the scheme.b. Specifically, the Co-Conspirators stole the identities of actual people and then, in many cases, created "synthetic identities" by pairing the name and social security number for an actual person with a fictitious birth date. When creating the synthetic identities, the Co-Conspirators often used the name and social security number of a minor and paired them with a birth date that made the identity appear to be that of an adult.c. The Co-Conspirators then used the stolen and synthetic identities to obtain lines of credit, primarily through opening credit card accounts at financial institutions (the "Fraud Cards"). The Fraud Cards were maintained in good standing with the financial institutions long enough to establish the creditworthiness of the stolen and synthetic identities. The Co-Conspirators then "busted out" the Fraud Cards by making large purchases and never repaying the debts associated with those purchases.d . The Co-Conspirators also incorporated and registered in various states numerous purported companies that did little or no legitimate business (the "Sham Companies"). The Co-Conspirators obtained credit card processing equipment by opening merchant processing accounts in the names of the Sham Companies, and then used that equipment to make fraudulent charges on the Fraud Cards.e . REHMAN maintained a business called the "7 Even Food Mart," located on New York Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, which was a convenience store located at the same address as a gas station. From time to time, the Co-Conspirators used the 7 Even Food Mart to make fraudulent charges to the Fraud Cards. The Co-Conspirators also used the Fraud Cards to purchase merchandise from a Secaucus, New Jersey, warehouse store that they then sold for a profit at the convenience store.f. The Co-Conspirators routinely used "Drop Addresses" in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland as the purported mailing addresses for the Fraud Cards and the Sham Companies. These Drop Addresses were controlled by the Co-Conspirators for the purpose of receiving mail sent in connection with the Fraud Cards and the Sham Companies.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1065631/download