Financial Fraud: Temporary Injunction Against Individuals For Operating Three International Mail Fraud Schemes

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<h2>District Court Enters Temporary Restraining Order Blocking Three Elder Fraud Schemes From Sending Fraudulent Letters<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>A federal court in Central Islip&comma; New York entered a temporary injunction today against individuals and corporations allegedly responsible for operating three international mail fraud schemes&comma; the Department of Justice announced&period; These cases are part of the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a complaint filed today&comma; the United States alleged that the 15 defendants mailed&comma; or facilitated the mailing of&comma; fraudulent solicitations related to three mail fraud schemes that primarily victimized the elderly or vulnerable&period; The solicitations purported to be personalized notices informing recipients that they had won a large cash prize but needed urgently to pay a fee to claim their winnings&period; The solicitations targeted victims throughout the world&comma; and victims returned their payments to mailboxes located in the United States&period; Although victims sent in the requested fees by cash&comma; check&comma; or credit card&comma; they did not receive large cash prizes in return&period; The complaint further alleges that the defendants were aware that the mailings deceived consumers into paying a fee and believing they had already won a valuable prize&period; The complaint alleges that victims sent thousands of dollars each week in response to the defendants’ fraudulent solicitations&period; The complaint alleged that in the last year&comma; the three mail fraud <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;how-to-defend-yourself-from-fraudulent-charitable-schemes&sol;">schemes collectively mailed over half a million fraudulent<&sol;a> letters&comma; grossing an estimated &dollar;4&period;8 million in fraudulent proceeds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Along with the complaint&comma; the United States sought a temporary restraining order against the defendants to prevent them from continuing to send fraudulent solicitations during the pendency of the action&period; The district court found probable cause to believe that those <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;how-to-defend-yourself-from-mortgage-loan-lending-and-related-fraud&sol;">defendants are engaged in mail fraud<&sol;a> and entered the order&period; A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for December 3&comma; 2018&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will not tolerate fraud&comma; and we will not allow the U&period;S&period; Mail to be used as a conduit for fraudulent conduct&comma;” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<em>Illegal schemes that prey on people’s hopes are reprehensible&comma; and we will continue to vigorously pursue the operators of such schemes&period;<&sol;em>”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These fraudulent solicitation schemes target elderly and vulnerable residents in our district&comma; around the country and around the world with a promise of cash prizes that never arrive&comma;” stated Richard P&period; Donoghue&comma; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are committed to protecting our residents&comma; and victims everywhere&comma; from these cruel schemes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service has been at the forefront of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;mortgage-fraud-concept-and-protection&sol;">protecting consumers from fraud<&sol;a> schemes for many years&comma;” said Inspector in Charge Delany De Leon-Colon for the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Deceptive solicitations take advantage of the American public with promises of easy money&comma; when in reality&comma; the scammers are the only ones making money&period; Investigations like this one let the American public – especially our vulnerable population – know that Postal Inspectors are working hard to protect them and ensure their confidence in the U&period;S&period; Mail&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The complaint alleged that defendants Charles Kafeiti of Phoenix&comma; Arizona&semi; Anthony Kafeiti of Port Jefferson&comma; New York&semi; and Steven Diaz of Mt&period; Sinai&comma; New York&comma; operate fraud schemes that lead victims to believe a large cash awards awaits them&period; The three schemes were assisted by Drew Wilson&comma; a resident of Vancouver&comma; Canada&comma; who provided logistical support&period; Other named defendants&comma; Dennis Hunsaker&comma; a resident of Las Vegas Nevada&comma; and his company&comma; Digital Matrix International Inc&period;&comma; assisted the direct mailers with online tools to manage their mailings&comma; lists of recipients&comma; lists of respondents&comma; and fulfillments&period; Carmine Maietta and Elizabeth Maietta&comma; residents of Westbury&comma; New York&comma; opened and processed victim returns&period; The suit also named a German corporation that processed victim payments for the scheme&comma; SixEvolution GmbH&comma; and its operator&comma; David Anthony&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act &lpar;EAPPA&rpar; into law&comma; The Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors&period; In particular&comma; this past February the Attorney General announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history&comma; charging more than 200 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep&period; The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the Act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last week&comma; the Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture hosted an inaugural Rural and Tribal Elder Justice Summit in Des Moines&comma; Iowa&period; The Summit focused on supporting the efforts of elder justice professionals to combat elder abuse and <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"881">financial<&sol;a> exploitation in rural and tribal communities&comma; and included remarks from Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the matter filed today&comma; the government is represented by Trial Attorney Jacqueline Blaesi-Freed of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorneys Seth Eichenholtz and John Vagelatos of the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York&period; The United States Postal Inspection Service provided investigative support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A complaint is merely a set of allegations that&comma; if the case were to proceed to trial&comma; the government must prove to receive a determination of liability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;civil&sol;consumer-protection-branch&period; For more information about the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York&comma; visit its website at www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-edny&period; Information about the Department of Justice’s Elder Fraud Imitative is available at www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;elderjustice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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