New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
As a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and one of the founding members of the Identity Theft Unit assigned to the unit after it’s creation, I investigated large scale Identity Theft, Forgery, Grand Larceny and related crimes in amounts that exceeded millions of dollars both in the United States and elsewhere. Now, as a NY criminal defense attorney, it continues to be readily apparent that the amount of theft and the number of victims impacted by Identity Theft continues to grow in an unprecedented manner and speed.
In fact, only yesterday, eleven people, both in the United States and other nations, were indicted for allegedly stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers form companies including the TJX Companies. Three of those men, Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey, allegedly hacked into the wireless networks of the TJX Companies (TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Office Max, Barnes and Nobles, and more), and installed “sniffer” programs that captured credit card numbers, debit card numbers and even passwords. Like many individuals who operate this kind of scheme, the numbers, in part, were allegedly sold online and overseas where they were used by third parties and resulted in significant financial loss.
Due to the potential for impacting so many people and causing financial devastation, Identity Theft and fraud related crimes are investigated thoroughly and aggressively by skilled and experienced prosecutors and law enforcement officers on both the state and federal levels. Here in NY, many of those prosecutors and law enforcement officers have received, and continue to receive, hands on training in the means by which Identity Theft, Money Laundering, Forgery, and related fraud crimes are perpetrated and investigated.
While the scope and amount of the alleged criminal scheme conducted by these men may be larger than the “average” case, if you find yourself in any predicament involving the crimes relating to Identity Theft, you should not merely retain any criminal attorney, but a NY criminal defense attorney who has real training and experience defending and prosecuting these crimes.