Articles Posted in Fraud

Brooklyn DA Busts 32 Alleged Welfare Fraud Cheats: Nearly $1 Million in Fraud Alleged

Fraud is a broad term that refers to a variety of offenses involving dishonesty or “fraudulent acts”. In essence, fraud is the intentional deception of a person or entity by another made for monetary or personal gain.

Fraud offenses always include some sort of false statement, misrepresentation, or deceitful conduct. The main purpose of fraud is to gain something of value (usually money or property) by misleading or deceiving someone into thinking something which the fraud perpetrator knows to be false. While not every instance of dishonesty is fraud, knowing the warning signs may help stop someone from gaining any unfair advantage over your personal, financial, or business affairs.

The pervasiveness of insurance fraud drives up costs for all consumers and costs the insurance industry billions of dollars each year. One authority estimates that the annual value of insurance fraud approaches $80 billion. Detecting insurance fraud is difficult because of the surreptitious nature by which the criminal perpetrates the fraud.

Depending on the specific issues involved, an alleged wrongful act may be handled as an administrative action or law enforcement may handle it as a criminal matter.

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Bank of New York Melon Computer Tech Indicted for Identity Theft of 150 Employees and $1 Million Fraud

Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.

Unlike a robbery or burglary, identity theft often occurs without the victim’s knowledge. Most identity theft victims only find out after they see strange charges on their credit card statements or apply for a loan. While prevention is always the best policy, sometimes personal information is exposed through security breaches at banks or companies with which you do business. Thus, criminal identity theft can happen to even well-prepared consumers.

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Bagel Man Hides the Dough: H and H Bagels Owner Arrested for General Tax and Unemployment Insurance Tax Fraud

Insurance fraud occurs most often when an insured individual or entity makes a false or exaggerated insurance claim, seeking compensation for injuries or losses that were not actually suffered. Insurance fraud can also be committed upon customers, through 1) the sale of unlicensed or bogus insurance coverage to unsuspecting clients, or 2) an insurance broker or agent’s diversion or theft of insurance premiums paid by clients.

Insurance fraud refers to any duplicitous act performed with the intent to obtain an improper payment from an insurer. Insurance fraud is committed by individuals from all walks of life. Law enforcement officials have prosecuted doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, car salesmen, insurance agents and people in positions of trust. Anyone who seeks to benefit from insurance through making inflated or false claims of loss or injury can be prosecuted. The pervasiveness of insurance fraud drives up costs for all consumers and costs the insurance industry billions of dollars each year. One authority estimates that the annual value of insurance fraud approaches $80 billion. Detecting insurance fraud is difficult because of the surreptitious nature by which the criminal perpetrates the fraud.

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Under the law, white collar crime can describe a wide variety of crimes, but they all typically involve crime committed through deceit and motivated by financial gain. The most common white collar crimes are various types of fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering. Many types of scams and frauds fall into the bucket of white collar crime, including Ponzi schemes and securities fraud such as insider trading. More common crimes, like insurance fraud and tax evasion, also constitute white collar crimes.

Fraud and financial crimes are a form of theft/larceny that occur when a person or entity takes money or property, or uses them in an illicit manner, with the intent to gain a benefit from it. These crimes typically involve some form of deceit, subterfuge or the abuse of a position of trust, which distinguishes them from common theft or robbery. In today’s complex economy, fraud and financial crimes can take many forms. The resources below will introduce you to the more common forms of financial crimes, such as forgery, credit card fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.

Many white collar crimes are frauds. Fraud is a general type of crime which generally involves deceiving someone for monetary gain. One common type of white collar fraud is securities fraud. Securities fraud is fraud around the trading of securities stocks, for example.

New York Insurance Fraud, Grand Larceny and Your Criminal Defense: Does the Acquittal of One Charge Require the Acquittal of the Other?

“White-collar crime” is an umbrella term used to define non-violent crimes that are financial in motivation. White-collar crimes tend to exist when people use deception or fraud to steal property, rather than force. White-collar crime can include identity theft, embezzlement, insider trading, etc.

Insurance fraud occurs most often when an insured individual or entity makes a false or exaggerated insurance claim, seeking compensation for injuries or losses that were not actually suffered. Insurance fraud can also be committed upon customers, through 1) the sale of unlicensed or bogus insurance coverage to unsuspecting clients, or 2) an insurance broker or agent’s diversion or theft of insurance premiums paid by clients. –

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New York Penal Law 170.65: Forgery of a Vehicle Identification Number and Your Criminal Defense

New York criminal law recognizes several degrees of the crime of forgery. A person is guilty of basic forgery, or forgery in the third degree, when he or she “falsely makes, completes or alters a written instrument” with intent to defraud, deceive or injure another. Several terms in the above definition must be explored to fully understand the scope of the offense.

New York Criminal defense attorneys from Manhattan and Brooklyn to Queens and Westchester County regularly represent individuals arrested or investigated for the crime of New York Forgery in its various shapes and sizes. When the Forgery in New York involves a “written instrument,” the applicable crime, depending on a few factors, is either New York Penal Law 170.05, New York Penal Law 170.10 or New York Penal Law 170.15. The latter two offenses are felonies while the first offense is a misdemeanor. One particular offense relating to Forgery that is applicable to crimes involving cars and other vehicles is New York Penal Law 170.65, Forgery of a Vehicle Identification Number.

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Manhattan Medicaid & Welfare Fraud Ring Gets a Dose of Law Enforcement: “Operation Free Ride” Nets 19 Individuals for $350,000 Medicaid Theft

Medical identity theft is defined as “the appropriation or misuse of a patient’s or provider’s unique medical identifying information to obtain or bill public or private payers for fraudulent medical goods or services,” according to “Physician Medical Identity Theft,” in the “Journal of the American Medical Association.” It is a growing and costly issue. You, other providers, and patients are vulnerable to it. This type of theft is one of several forms of health care fraud. The Federal Government, in conjunction with State Governments, provides health care coverage for 100 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (1), which is equivalent to about one out of every four individuals in this country, and amounts to expenditures of more than $732 billion in taxpayer dollars per year (2). The size of these health care programs makes them targets for fraud. Both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and CMS track cases of provider and patient medical identity theft. The latest FTC data shows that more than 3,600 physician and patient cases of medical identity theft were reported in 2009, with more than 12,000 cases reported between 2007 and 2009 (3).

Fraud is a broad term that refers to a variety of offenses involving dishonesty or “fraudulent acts”. In essence, fraud is the intentional deception of a person or entity by another made for monetary or personal gain.

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Have financial problems or hardships caused you to consider bankruptcy? Are harassing creditor calls, wage garnishments, frozen bank accounts, or the thought of losing your home weighing heavily on your mind?

If you are reading this page, you have probably been struggling to find a way to reduce your debts, but haven’t been successful in keeping creditors from hounding you. You may have considered bankruptcy before, but were hoping that you could work things out on your own. And, you may have even felt a little embarrassed to speak with someone about it…but don’t worry, you don’t have to do this alone.

With criminal debt settlement, a creditor oftentimes agrees to lower the outstanding debt of an eligible account by 30% or more, so you can pay off your debt.

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Under the New York Penal Law, a person is guilty of identity theft in the third degree when he or she knowingly and with intent to defraud assumes the identity of another person by presenting himself or herself as that other person, or by acting as that other person or by using personal identifying information of that other person, and thereby: 1. obtains goods, money, property or services or uses credit in the name of such other person or causes financial loss to such person or to another person or persons; or 2. commits a class A misdemeanor or higher level crime. Identity theft in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor.

Throughout New York City, from Manhattan and the Bronx to Queens and Brooklyn, prosecutors have seen an enormous increase in crimes relating to Identity Theft pursuant to New York Penal Law sections 190.78, 190.79 and 190.80. This increase in related crimes has resulted in extensive investigations and indictments of single individuals as well as global organizations such as the Western Express Cybercrime Group and its members. As a former Manhattan prosecutor who was the most senior ADA assigned to the Identity Theft Major Case Section upon that unit’s creation, I not only have extensive experience prosecuting and building cases against those accused of Identity Theft crimes, but representing those charged with these offenses as well. Before discussing scenarios involving these offenses, this entry will deal specifically with the crime of Identity Theft in the Third Degree (NY Penal Law 190.78) and the relevant underlying definitions. Future entries will address Identity Theft in the Second (NY Penal Law 190.79) and First Degree (NY Penal Law 190.80).

Under the New York Penal Law, offenses involving theft of identity; definitions. 1. For the purposes of sections 190.78, 190.79 and 190.80 of this article “personal identifying information” means a person’s name, address, telephone number, date of birth, driver’s license number, social security number, place of employment, mother’s maiden name, financial services account number or code, savings account number or code, checking account number or code, brokerage account number or code, credit card account number or code, debit card number or code, automated teller machine number or code, taxpayer identification number, computer system password, signature or copy of a signature, electronic signature, unique biometric data that is a fingerprint, voice print, retinal image or iris image of another person, telephone calling card number, mobile identification number or code, electronic serial number or personal identification number, or any other name, number, code or information that may be used alone or in conjunction with other such information to assume the identity of another person. 2. For the purposes of sections 190.78, 190.79, 190.80, 190.81, 190.82 and 190.83 of this article: a. “electronic signature” shall have the same meaning as defined in subdivision three of section three hundred two of the state technology law. b. “personal identification number” means any number or code which may be used alone or in conjunction with any other information to assume the identity of another person or access financial resources or credit of another person.

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