Poughkeepsie, NY
News
Hudson Valley Man Among Four Charged In $40M Scam Hudson Valley Man Among Four Charged In $40M Scam
Hudson Valley Man Among Four Charged In $40M Scam A Hudson Valley man was among four charged in an 11-count indictment for allegedly stealing more than $40 million in investor funds as part of a cryptocurrency scam, federal authorities announced. On Tuesday, March 8, US Attorney Breon Peace announced that four owners and operators of online cryptocurrency companies - including one from Dutchess County - are facing a host of charges for allegedly running a sophisticated scheme to steal from investors and later attempting to obstruct justice as they were being investigated. Those charged, according to the US Attorney’s Office: Gregory Agg…

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by Zak Failla
Brookfield, CT
Police & Fire
Scammers Steal $26,000 From Fairfield County Resident Through Elaborate Bitcoin Scam Scammers Steal $26,000 From Fairfield County Resident Through Elaborate Bitcoin Scam
Scammers Steal $26,000 From Fairfield County Resident Through Elaborate Bitcoin Scam Scammers running an elaborate Bitcoin scheme bilked a Fairfield County resident out of more than $25,000 after allegedly hacking his computer, police said. Officers from the Darien Police Department recently met with a Hollow Tree Ridge Road resident regarding a possible computer scam. The victim told officers he was using the Internet when he noticed a pop-up that alleged his computer had been hacked, prompting him to click the link, at which point an operator advised that other sites were accessing his bank account and had secured money from it. It is alleged that the operator then claim…

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by Zak Failla
Brookfield, CT
News
CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution
CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution A Connecticut man was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for trafficking drugs on the dark web, leading to a fatal overdose, and firearm charges. Barry Duclos, age 43, of New London County, was sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 1, to 170 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to Leonard Boyle, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut. The US Attorney's Office said Duclos, a resident of Norwich, was found guilty of the following charges on July 30: Seven counts of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of fentanyl analogues Po…

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by Nicole Valinote
Fairfield, CT
Business
Digital Currency Group To Relocate HQ To Fairfield County, Creating 300 Jobs Digital Currency Group To Relocate HQ To Fairfield County, Creating 300 Jobs
Digital Currency Group To Relocate HQ To Fairfield County, Creating 300 Jobs Digital Currency Group is set to relocate its headquarters from New York to Connecticut, creating more than 300 new jobs in the next five years. Gov. Ned Lamont made the announcement on Monday, Nov. 29, saying the global investment company will relocate from New York City to Stamford. The company is a leading investor in both blockchain technology companies and bitcoin, Lamont said.  According to the announcement, the new headquarters will be located at 290 Harbor Drive in Stamford after renovations are complete.  Digital Currency Group expects to occupy the new location in late…

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by Nicole Valinote
Brookfield, CT
News
Police Issue Alert For Eversource Scam Making Rounds In Region Police Issue Alert For Eversource Scam Making Rounds In Region
Police Issue Alert For Eversource Scam Making Rounds In Region Alarm bells are sounding for some police departments in the region as reports continue coming about an ongoing scam involving fraudsters posing as Eversource utility workers. In Western Massachusetts, the Springfield Police Department issued an alert for an ongoing scam involving multiple victims who have received phone calls from scammers claiming to be from Eversource. During the phone call, the scammers would proceed to inform their victims that they owed money and their electricity would be shut off if they didn’t pay immediately. In response, the victims were then directed to a bitcoi…

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by Zak Failla
Brentwood, NY
News
Suffolk County IT Supervisor Accused Of Using County Resources To Mine Cryptocurrency Suffolk County IT Supervisor Accused Of Using County Resources To Mine Cryptocurrency
Suffolk County IT Supervisor Accused Of Using County Resources To Mine Cryptocurrency An information technology supervisor was arrested and accused of running a cryptocurrency mining operation out of Suffolk County offices, costing the county thousands of dollars in electricity.  Christopher Naples, age 42, of Mattituck, was arraigned on multiple felony charges Wednesday, Sept. 8, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini. Sini said Naples was charged with the following: Public corruption Third-degree grand larceny  Computer trespass Official misconduct “Mining cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of resources, and miners have to navigate h…

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by Nicole Valinote
Fort Lee, NJ
News
Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims
Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims A confessed cybercriminal from Fort Lee was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison for snatching nearly $300,000 from the accounts of ID theft victims, authorities said. Briana Burford was caught using Bitcoin to make the purchases through “carding” sites that traffic in stolen credit card and bank account information, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rather than risk trial, she took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark in November 2019 to wire fraud. Federal authorities didn’t say whether the deal reached with Burford nearly two …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Fort Lee, NJ
News
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online The wife of Bergen County-based Instagram influencer "Jay Mazini” was in on a plot to kidnap, threaten and terrorize a Fort Lee man who’d posted negative comments about him on social media, authorities said Friday. Joumana Danoun, 21, of Paterson also then tried to get the victim to drop the charges, they said. Danoun joined her husband in the Bergen County Jail following her arrest Thursday. "Mazini" of Edgewater, whose real name is Jebara J. Igbara, 26, has been held in the county lockup since authorities arrested him on kidnapping charges in March. An FBI detainer prevents a local judg…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Middletown, NJ
News
A NJ FIRST: Monmouth County Prosecutor Seizes $198K In Cryptocurrency A NJ FIRST: Monmouth County Prosecutor Seizes $198K In Cryptocurrency
A NJ First: Monmouth County Prosecutor Seizes $198K In Cryptocurrency The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is the first law enforcement agency in New Jersey to seize and liquidate cryptocurrency, authorities said.  The unusual assets were seized during an illegal drug bust in Long Branch and cashed in for about $198,237, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni. In 2018, investigators executed search warrants at two Long Branch locations used by 39-year-old Giddel Gonzalez-Estrada, who pleaded guilty in the 2019 drug case and is completing a 10-year state prison sentence, Gramiccioni said. Authorities seized three …

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by Jon Craig
Cliffside Park-Edgewater, NJ
News
Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online
Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online Authorities on Friday captured a third accused accomplice of an Instagram influencer who they said kidnapped a man in Bergen County, stripped him naked and held a machete to his neck while threatening to kill him if he didn’t remove negative social media posts. Alaziz Dalmida, 21, was the last piece of a puzzle involving “Jay Mazini” – real name Jebara J. Igbara – authorities said. Igbara, 25, of Edgewater had claimed a net worth of $33 million while cultivating a reputation for distributing stacks of cash to random people in New York. That was before federal authorities in Brooklyn charge…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Cherry Hill, NJ
News
NJ Sex Offender Indicted For Trying To Hire Dark Web Hit Man To Kill NY Teen NJ Sex Offender Indicted For Trying To Hire Dark Web Hit Man To Kill NY Teen
NJ Sex Offender Indicted For Trying To Hire Dark Web Hit Man To Kill NY Teen A New Jersey man who admitted trading sexually explicit images with a minor took a different tack before pleading guilty: Looking to have the kid killed, he paid $20,000 in bitcoin to a bogus murder-for-hire site on the dark web, a federal indictment alleges. John Michael Musbach, 31, was a free man, having been sentenced in February 2018 to a two-year suspended sentence with lifetime parole supervision for his exchanges with the then-13-year-old from upstate New York. A year or so had passed when cybercrime sleuth Chris Monteiro tipped federal agents off to messages that Musbach exchanged …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Greenwich, CT
News
COVID-19: Beware Of These Five New Scammer Tactics, Utility Companies Warn COVID-19: Beware Of These Five New Scammer Tactics, Utility Companies Warn
Covid-19: Beware Of These Five New Scammer Tactics, Utility Companies Warn With the United States crossing a grim milestone as the COVID-19 death toll topped 500,000, utility companies are cautioning about new scams that have arisen in the past year as opportunistic fraudsters look to take advantage of the pandemic. Utility companies across the country have issued alerts regarding new scams as they seek to allow their customers to protect themselves from scammers exploiting the COVID-19 outbreak. According to officials, one of the largest threats involves scammers aggressively threatening to disconnect service, claiming that bills are past due, unless a payment is…

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by Zak Failla