Tag Identity Theft

Phoenix, Arizona Man Sentenced to 32 Months for His Role in an Alabama Phishing Scam Montgomery, Alabama- On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, Iosif Florea, 42, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for his part in a “phishing” scam that impacted Alabama residents, announced United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr., Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, and FBI Special Agent in Charge James Jewell. Following his two-year and eight month prison sentence, he will be subject to three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $17,786.50 in restitution. Florea previously pled guilty to charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft following his indictment in May of 2018 by a federal grand jury. Phishing scams use email or malicious websites to solicit personal information by posing as a trustworthy organization. Evidence showed that Florea was involved in a scheme that occurred in March and June of 2015. During that time, text messages were sent to nearly 500,000 people in Alabama. The messages contained a link to a website that claimed to be that of the Alabama State Employees Credit Union (ASECU) and requested the recipients use the link to verify account information. The link actually took the recipients to a fraudulent website where they were prompted to enter sensitive account information, such as their names, debit card numbers, the card’s expiration date, the security code from the back of the card, and their personal identification numbers (PINs). This information was then loaded onto blank cards. During the two-month period, there were videos of Florea in Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, withdrawing money at ATMs using cards with stolen information from approximately 30 different accounts. “It is important that the public be aware of these types of scams, and immediately […]