Two Fraud Gangs Targeting Apple Stores Dismantled in US

The Manhattan District Attorney announced that 27 people have been indicted for offences in connection to cybercriminal operations that involved purchasing electronic equipment from Apple Stores across the country using counterfeit credit cards.

One identity theft ring was allegedly ran as a family business by a man named Shaheed Bilal, 28 of Brooklyn, and continued to operate even as he was serving time in prison for an unrelated offence.

The gang's seventeen members, who have all been charged, include Bilal's girlfriend Ophelia Alleyene, 29, and his brothers Isaac, 25, Ali, 23 and Rahim, 21.

According to prosecutors, the identity thieves were buying credit card magnetic strip data from cybercriminals overseas and were encoding it onto fake cards.

They then imprinted their names onto the credit cards so that it seems as if they belong to them and went on a shopping spree at Apple stores in Manhattan and around the country.

The fraudulently purchased Macbooks, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other Apple products were being sold on the black market for considerable profits.

One of Bilal's "shoppers," named Anthony Harper, later broke off from the self-entitled "S3" gang and started his own operation that functioned in a similar fashion.

The people involved in Harper's gang were also indicted, along with black market buyers and sellers that collaborated with the two identity theft rings.

"Today, we have effectively dismantled a significant criminal operation that preyed upon innocent victims around the world. By working with our partners in law enforcement, we will continue to use all available tools to root out cybercrime in New York City and beyond," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

The investigation was conducted by the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau and the United States Secret Service.

"This investigation highlights the threats posed to businesses and individuals by criminal enterprises engaged in cyberfraud and identity theft, which adversely impact local communities," commented Brian G. Parr, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office.