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News
10/01/2009
Software Piracy |
| The NC3TF conducted a software piracy case after receiving complaints from the Autodesk Licensing and Compliance Department.
Autodesk identified postings on Craigslist advertising AutoCad 2011 for sale. The software, which retails at $4,999.00 per copy, was being sold for $150.00. The NC3TF made an undercover buy of the software and arrested the seller who was booked into the Marin County jail. A search warrant was served at the suspect’s residence and a computer and additional copies of pirated software were seized as evidence.
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10/01/2009
Internet Fraud |
| The NC3TF was contacted by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office regarding complaints about the proprietor of an internet auto parts company.
In summary, after receiving payment from customers, the company did not provide the products.
The NC3TF began investigating the company and discovered that over a 2-year period, multiple complaints had been filed with the District Attorney’s Office, the Better Business Bureau, and the Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3).
During the course of the investigation, the NC3TF discovered additional victims. Ultimately, 29 victims were identified with a combined loss of over $50,000.00.
The NC3TF found that the IC3 had referred complaints received by them, to the law enforcement agencies in the jurisdictions in which the victims resided. The local law enforcement agencies, which typically have no training in internet fraud, advised the victims that their complaints were civil matters and they did no further investigation.
The NC3TF investigated the case by completing interviews of the victims and the suspect. Searches were conducted of the following: the suspect’s home; business; computer; e-mails between the suspect and victims; and bank records. The suspect was ultimately arrested for 19 felony counts of grand theft. Charges are still pending in this case, however if the suspect is successfully convicted, he will be ordered to pay restitution to all of his 29 victims.
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07/10/2010
Identity Theft Ring |
| Police say bad check in Sonoma led to identity theft ring
Posted by editor in Sonoma on July 10th, 2010
BY JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Fraudulent checks used at a Sonoma Safeway led detectives on a seven-month investigation that culminated with the arrest this week of the suspected ringleader of a large-scale identity theft scheme.
Brad William Hesse, 49, of Castro Valley was found in a Stockton hotel room with files containing personal identification information on about 500,000 people, said Carl Chapman, operations supervisor with the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force.
Hesse also had sophisticated equipment for making fraudulent California drivers licenses and state-issued checks, Chapman said. “He’d hole up in a hotel, make the checks, go out and cash the checks,” Chapman said.
The investigation began Dec. 11 when Sonoma police officers arrested a Santa Rosa man who tried to cash a fraudulent check at the grocery store, Chapman said.
Sonoma officers arrested the man, 45-year-old Brian Fuesz, and in a search of his car found a file folder with 35 fake California drivers licenses and corresponding checks that matched the identities of real people, Chapman said.
Sonoma police passed the case along to the Napa-based computer crimes task force, a unit of investigators from Marin, Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties who specialize in identity theft. They tracked the routing numbers on the fake checks and other tips to Hesse, who was wanted in three counties for identity theft, burglary and other crimes, Chapman said.
Detectives tracked him to a Hawthorne Suites Hotel in Sacramento June 25, but Hesse fled before they pinpointed his hotel room, Chapman said.
Left behind in the hotel room was a sophisticated counterfeiting operation, including special inks and equipment capable of reproducing key security features, such as holograms and magnetic strips, Chapman said.
There were also files containing names, addresses, birthdays, Social Security numbers and other key identifying information for 500,000 people.
It was not clear how the identity information was obtained or whether any of the identities were of Sonoma County-area residents. "It appears there’s been a breach somewhere, but we don’t know where,” Chapman said. “Although the drivers licenses are fraudulent, the name and date of birth on the drivers licenses are all correct but with a different person’s picture.”
Hesse had produced state-issued checks for in-home support services and unemployment worth an estimated $200,000, Chapman said.
The production equipment included multiple computers, printers, lamination machines, paper-cutters and special inks used for government checks. A digital camera found in the hotel room contained multiple photos used for the fake licenses, key clues to where Hesse allegedly sold his counterfeit materials, Chapman said.
Surveillance teams caught sight of several vehicles associated with Hesse at a Stockton Comfort Inn. Officers arrested Hesse at about noon Wednesday at the hotel.
Five or six other people are suspected accomplices in the ongoing investigation, Chapman said.
Task force investigators will pass the case against Hesse to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution because the alleged crimes took place in several counties, Chapman said.
Hesse was being held on $25,000 bail at the Nevada County Jail on a burglary warrant from Truckee, jail officials said.
Fuesz was convicted June 21 of forgery, possessing identification information with the intent to defraud, possessing counterfeiting equipment and methamphetamine possession in Sonoma County Superior Court, District Attorney officials said.
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07/01/2009
Check Fraud |
| This check fraud case was referred to the NC3TF by the Vacaville Police Department. In this case, a local shipping company identified numerous envelopes being shipped by the same person with fraudulent shipping codes. The shipping company contacted the Vacaville Police Department. After obtaining search warrants for the envelopes, the Vacaville Police found 991 fraudulent checks with a total value of $4,500,000.00.
A search warrant was served on the suspect’s residence and his computer was seized. The suspect was arrested and booked but later released by the Solano County D.A.’s Office pending further investigation into the source of the checks. The checks were written from accounts across the country and were shipped to various persons also throughout the country.
The NC3TF is working with the Solano County D.A.’s Office on this case.
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07/01/2009
Software Piracy |
| The NC3TF received a complaint from the Marin County based company, Autodesk. The complaint was about a person advertising the sale of AutoCAD 2010 on Craigslist.
The ad listed the product for sale for $100.00. The MSRP for the product is $3,995.00. The ad also had a link to the Autodesk web site for more information on the product.
The NC3TF contacted the suspect by e-mail and arranged to purchase a copy of the software. During the undercover buy, the suspect informed the NC3TF agent that the suspect had a relative who worked at Autodesk and that was how he was able to sell the software at that price.
During the purchase, the suspect showed the NC3TF agent additional software he had available. The NC3TF purchased a copy of an Adobe Systems product as well.
The NC3TF met with Autodesk and Adobe Systems and confirmed that the software was actually “trial” versions that had a program added to the CD to override the security features, thus making them fully functioning software.
After another undercover buy and surveillance, the suspect’s home was identified. A search warrant was later served on his home where hundreds of copies of Autodesk and Adobe Systems programs were located.
The case has been referred to the State Attorney General’s Office for prosecution since the case involved multiple jurisdictions.
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06/01/2010
Software Piracy |
| The NC3TF conducted a software piracy case after receiving complaints from the Adobe Software Systems Anti Piracy Enforcement Manager.
Adobe identified postings on Craigslist advertising Adobe Photoshop Master Collection Software for sale in Sonoma County. The software, which retails at $2,499.00 per copy, was being sold for $100.00. The NC3TF made multiple undercover buys of the software and identified the seller. After the software was confirmed pirated, the suspect was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County jail. A search warrant was served at the residence and a computer and additional pirated copies were seized as evidence.
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05/01/2010
Identity Theft |
| A Mill Valley, California attorney reported to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office that he was the victim of identity theft. The attorney had been contacted by numerous attorneys from outside of Marin County regarding work he allegedly performed. The victim was not familiar with any of those cases.
The Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force (NC3TF) investigated the case. With the assistance of the real attorneys who had contacted the victim, the NC3TF identified the suspect, who was working and living in Sacramento, California. A search warrant served at the suspect’s Sacramento office and home, resulted in the identification of at least twelve victim clients. The suspect was preying on individuals who were nearing foreclosure of their homes. He posed as the Mill Valley attorney, specializing in Foreclosure Law. He advertised his services on the website: canwinforeclosure.com.
An arrest warrant was issued for and served upon the suspect for two felony counts: False Personation of Another; and Identity Theft. He was arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail.
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04/01/2009
Identity Theft |
| A medical billing company located in Novato (Marin County), found that an employee, while at work, had made an on-line purchase using a stolen credit card. The employee was subsequently fired. As the manager was cleaning out the employee’s desk, he found hand-written notes with personal identifying information of multiple people.
The Novato Police Department was called. The Novato Police took a report and seized the computer used by the employee. The NC3TF was requested to handle the investigation. The computer was forwarded to the NC3TF and a search warrant was obtained for its examination.
During a search of the computer, deleted e-mails were recovered from unallocated space. These e-mails contained the personal identifying information of 24 additional victims. This information included full names; dates of birth; social security numbers; home addresses, and for some, full credit card information.
From the communications in the e-mails it was clear that the employee was obtaining the information from the company’s records and e-mailing it to a second suspect. That person was working with others to open new credit cards and place the stolen credit card information onto new cards.
An arrest warrant was obtained for the suspect who later surrendered herself to the Marin County jail. The suspect remains in custody awaiting trial.
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02/01/2010
Gas Pump Skimmers |
| In February, 2010, the NC3TF met with law enforcement agencies after multiple agencies from Solano and Contra Costa counties reported a dramatic increase in identity theft cases. It was discovered that all the victims frequented common gas stations. During the investigation, a skimming device was located on a gas pump in the city of Benicia. The NC3TF became the central information hub to gather and disseminate information between the agencies regarding these cases.
Days later, the Martinez Police Department was notified that an employee at a
7-11 Store/Gas Station located a skimming device on one of their gas pumps. Martinez Police Detectives removed the device and replaced it with a similar looking device.
The devices are inside the gas pumps’ housing and are not visible. The pumps’ housing are locked, but many use a common key. The suspects needed to have one of those keys to open the housing to plant and retrieve the device.
Martinez Police contacted the NC3TF for personnel support in conducting surveillance on the pump in an attempt to apprehend the suspects when they returned to retrieve the device. 24-hour surveillance was established on the gas pump. In the early morning hours, two suspects were arrested by Martinez Police when they accessed the mock device. Both suspects were Armenian Nationals and have been linked to an Armenian gang from Southern California.
The 2 suspects were booked into the Contra Costa County jail.
A search of the suspect vehicle revealed two additional skimmers and two GPS navigation units. On the GPS units, there were recent searches for 7-11 and Arco Gas Stations in the following cities: Martinez; Stockton; West Sacramento; Sacramento; Davis; Dixon; San Leandro; Walnut Creek; Danville; Hayward; San Mateo; Elk Grove; Lodi; Dublin; Livermore; San Ramon; Carmichael; Citrus Heights; Fairfield; Castro Valley; and Concord.
The NC3TF and Martinez Police Detectives physically checked all the gas pumps at the stations identified in the GPS units and recovered an additional eight devices.
Evidence was found in the vehicle which linked those suspects to additional suspects. Arrest warrants have been issued for the 2 other suspects.
The NC3TF worked with the U.S. Secret Service in downloading the information on the devices. The devices contained credit card and ATM card account information for over 200 victims.
The initial case was filed by the Contra Costa County D.A.’s Office but has since been transferred to the State Attorney General’s Office. The NC3TF is continuing to work with AG’s Office and the Martinez Police Department on this case.
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