Subscribe to
Computerworld Man charged with using cartoon names to defraud brokerages
California man allegedly opened 58,000 online accounts and stole about $50,000
Active Comments
May 29, 2008 (Computerworld) A California man was arraigned this week in federal court in Sacramento on multiple counts of computer fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud for allegedly opening 58,000 fake brokerage accounts.
Michael Largent, 22, of Plumas Lake, Calif., was charged with using false Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and names -- even the names of cartoon and comic book characters -- to open the accounts.
He used the accounts to steal so-called micro-deposits of a few cents to a few dollars deposited by brokerage firms into new accounts to verify that users can access them. Prosecutors charge that the scam netted Largent about $50,000 in the course of six months.
According to documents from the U.S. Department of Justice, Largent allegedly defrauded ETrade, Charles Schwab & Co. and other businesses using this scheme between November 2007 and May 2008.
When the micro-deposits were made, Largent allegedly transferred or attempted to transfer the funds into his bank accounts and onto prepaid debit cards. This was allegedly done without the companies' knowledge or authorization.
According to the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of California, both ETrade and Charles Schwab detected the alleged fraud and contacted law enforcement. The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI.
If convicted, Largent could face up to 25 years in federal prison. Now out on bail, he is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on June 19, according to a spokesperson for the court.
Today's Top Stories
Resource Alerts
Webcasts
Real-time collaboration and development with IBM® Rational® Team Concert streamlines any project
 In SecurityStripping away the trappings of applications, systems and networks, information is the core asset of most organizations. Our columnist describes how asserting the importance of information governance is crucial to making that asset tangible, addressable and protected. Click here to read the latest column by Jon Espenschied |
Protecting Exchange While it was once just a convenient way for employees to communicate internally, today e-mail systems like Exchange are tightly integrated with other business applications and are one of the primary methods for communicating with current and prospective customers. Protecting Exchange against costly downtime has become a top priority for more IT departments. So how do you ensure that your Exchange environment is always protected?Download this white paper now! 
|
 The Spy FilesFor Congress to do anything that helps protect consumers and the critical Internet infrastructure as a whole, it must pass laws that require proactive processes to protect computers, not that tell people how to deal with the resulting mess, says Ira Winkler. Click here to read the latest column by Ira Winkler |
|
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
|
||||||
|
