Brentwood, NY
Breaking News
$10M Fraud Scheme: NY Father-Son Duo Spent Investor Money On Lavish Lifestyle, Feds Say $10M Fraud Scheme: NY Father-Son Duo Spent Investor Money On Lavish Lifestyle, Feds Say $10M Fraud Scheme: NY Father-Son Duo Spent Investor Money On Lavish Lifestyle, Feds Say
$10M Fraud Scheme: NY Father-Son Duo Spent Investor Money On Lavish Lifestyle, Feds Say A New York father and son are accused of conning investors out of millions of dollars that allegedly went toward funding their lavish lifestyle. Long Island residents Eugene Austin, age 60, of Port Jefferson, and his son Brandon Austin, age 27, of Coram, are named in an indictment that was unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, July 12. According to prosecutors, the men fraudulently offered to serve as a broker for sales of large quantities of cryptocurrency at below-market exchange rates and provide short-term investments in cryptocurrency for purportedly high returns. They als…

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by Michael Mashburn
Egg Harbor Township, NJ
Breaking News
NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole
NJ Man Who Hired Hitman To Kill Kid Gets 6 Years, No Parole UPDATE: A South Jersey man who paid $20,000 in bitcoin to have a 13-year-boy killed after they exchanged sexually explicit images was sentenced to six years in a federal penitentiary. John Michael Musbach, 34, of Haddonfield, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Musbach began communicating with the child in 2015 and soon after exchanged videos and photos that were discovered by the kid's parents, federal authorities said. Musbach was living in Galloway when members of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office raided …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Jersey City, NJ
Breaking News
Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen
Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen A 20-year-old Hudson County man must spend nearly two years in federal prison for his role in stealing more than $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency by swapping a SIM card from the victim’s phone. Ebrahem Adeeb of Bayonne must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained 21-month sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. His deal with the government also requires him to pay $504,418 in restitution to his victims, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said following the sentencing on Tuesday, May 23. Adeeb and his conspirators swiped the subscriber identity module from the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Hackensack, NJ
Breaking News
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds 'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds 'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds A 23-year-old British citizen who hacked the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates, among others, pleaded guilty in federal court to a host of related charges as part of a deal with the government. Joseph James O'Connor -- also known as "PlugwalkJoe" -- technically faces up to 77 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but will likely get somewhere between 10 to 20 years when all is said and done. The Liverpudlian hacker admitted during a plea hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 9, that he committed one of the largest high-pro…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Massapequa, NY
Breaking News
String Of Scams Steals Over $500,000 From Long Island Residents String Of Scams Steals Over $500,000 From Long Island Residents String Of Scams Steals Over $500,000 From Long Island Residents
String Of Scams Steals Over $500,000 From Long Island Residents Three separate scams, all happening in the span of a week, have targeted older Nassau residents and cost them thousands of dollars each. On Monday, April 24, the Nassau County Police Department reported a string of cons that targeted the citizens, all of whom were over the age of 65. The first reported incident happened in Farmingdale on Thursday, April 6, when detectives reported that a 69-year-old woman received a call from someone claiming to be an Apple employee. The scammer convinced the victim that her computer and all accounts had been compromised. In order to keep her money s…

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by Sophie Grieser
Massapequa, NY
Breaking News
Accused NY Fraudster Agrees To Forfeit $248M He Allegedly Racked Up From Thousands Of Investors Accused NY Fraudster Agrees To Forfeit $248M He Allegedly Racked Up From Thousands Of Investors Accused NY Fraudster Agrees To Forfeit $248M He Allegedly Racked Up From Thousands Of Investors
Accused NY Fraudster Agrees To Forfeit $248M He Allegedly Racked Up From Thousands Of Investors A New York man admitted to committing fraud and has agreed to forfeit to the US government hundreds of millions of dollars he's accused of racking up from tens of thousands of investors until his arrest less than a year ago. Long Island resident Eddy Alexandre, age 50, of Valley Stream, the leader of a purported cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading platform called EminiFX, solicited more than $248 million after making false representations in connection with the EminiFX trading platform, the Southern District of New York, announced on Friday, Feb. 10. According to the allegations in …

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by Joe Lombardi
Yonkers, NY
Breaking News
'CryptoQueen' Charged In NY On FBI's 10 Most Wanted: May Have Armed Guards, Changed Appearance 'CryptoQueen' Charged In NY On FBI's 10 Most Wanted: May Have Armed Guards, Changed Appearance 'CryptoQueen' Charged In NY On FBI's 10 Most Wanted: May Have Armed Guards, Changed Appearance
'CryptoQueen' Charged In NY On FBI's 10 Most Wanted: May Have Armed Guards, Changed Appearance A woman charged in New York with stealing billions of dollars from investors around the world may have changed her appearance and be traveling with armed guards, according to federal agents.  Bulgaria native Ruja Ignatova, age 42, has been placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List for participating in a fake cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded victims of more than $4 billion in total.  The scheme began in 2014 when Ignatova founded OneCoin Ltd., a Bulgaria-based company that marketed a fake cryptocurrency to investors. To solicit funds, she would make f…

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by Ben Crnic
Edison, NJ
Breaking News
Central Jersey Residents Robbed By Cryptocurrency, 'Mexican Cartel' Scams Totaling Nearly $100K Central Jersey Residents Robbed By Cryptocurrency, 'Mexican Cartel' Scams Totaling Nearly $100K Central Jersey Residents Robbed By Cryptocurrency, 'Mexican Cartel' Scams Totaling Nearly $100K
Central Jersey Residents Robbed By Cryptocurrency, 'Mexican Cartel' Scams Totaling Nearly $100K A pair of residents in Middlesex were robbed in separate scams, police said.  One scam was a person saying they were a member of the Mexican Cartel. A second scam involved investments in cryptocurrency via LinkedIn, Middlesex police said. On Jan. 10, a resident of Tree Top Road reported they were a victim of fraud. The resident reported that they were contacted through LinkedIn by an individual offering a cryptocurrency investment opportunity. After transferring funds over the course of several months, the individual ceased all communications and the resident r…

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by Jon Craig
West Chester, PA
Breaking News
Hacker Stole $10K In Crypto From Chesco Man, State Police Say Hacker Stole $10K In Crypto From Chesco Man, State Police Say Hacker Stole $10K In Crypto From Chesco Man, State Police Say
Hacker Stole $10K In Crypto From Chesco Man, State Police Say State police are investigating after a Chester County man was robbed of $10,000 in cryptocurrency, the agency said in a release.  The victim, identified only as a 35-year-old London Britain Township man, walked into the Avondale Station on Thursday, Jan. 5, and told troopers that $10,000 in crypto had been transferred from his digital account without his knowledge, authorities wrote.  The matter remains under investigation, state police added.  As cryptocurrency has entered the mainstream in recent years, theft of digital assets appears to have risen in tandem. According to …

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by Mac Bullock
New Haven, CT
Breaking News
CT State Police Squad Recovers $20K In Cryptocurrency Scam CT State Police Squad Recovers $20K In Cryptocurrency Scam CT State Police Squad Recovers $20K In Cryptocurrency Scam
CT State Police Squad Recovers $20K In Cryptocurrency Scam Last year, the Connecticut State Police Organized Crime Task Force was able to retrieve $20,000 from a $41,150 cryptocurrency or Bitcoin scam. The task force learned of a complaint from a New Haven County resident in Milford in September 2022 regarding larceny by false pretenses, the state police said. The larceny resulted in the loss of $41,150 when the victim was scammed into depositing the money into a series of Bitcoin ATM machines, state police added. The incident was also reported to the Milford Police Department, and it was determined that the task force would assume the investigati…

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by Kathy Reakes
Cambridge, MA
Breaking News
Former FTX CEO, MIT Grad Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Defrauding Investors Of $1.8 Billion Former FTX CEO, MIT Grad Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Defrauding Investors Of $1.8 Billion Former FTX CEO, MIT Grad Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Defrauding Investors Of $1.8 Billion
Former FTX CEO, MIT Grad Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Defrauding Investors Of $1.8 Billion The former CEO of what used to be one of the world's largest cryptocurrency companies has been charged with defrauding investors of almost two billion dollars, authorities said. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Samuel Bankman-Fried on Tuesday, Dec. 13, with defrauding FTX investors out of more than $1.8 billion.  The SEC alleges that Bankman-Fried raised the funds – including $1.1 billion from 90 US-based investors – by falsely promoting a safe, responsible cryptocurrency since May 2019.  "We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of dece…

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by David Cifarelli
Brentwood, NY
Breaking News
Suffolk County Couple's Life Savings Recovered After Stolen By Scammer Suffolk County Couple's Life Savings Recovered After Stolen By Scammer Suffolk County Couple's Life Savings Recovered After Stolen By Scammer
Suffolk County Couple's Life Savings Recovered After Stolen By Scammer Authorities recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars that were stolen from a Long Island couple in an internet phishing scam. Investigators recovered more than $330,000 after the funds were stolen from a Suffolk County husband and wife, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced on Wednesday, Nov. 30. On or about Tuesday, Sept. 20, the victims had the funds stolen from them by a scammer in Kolkata, India, who made false claims and manipulated electronic banking information to convince the couple that the money needed to be refunded after it had been erroneously deposited i…

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by Nicole Valinote