Thursday, April 18, 2013
Richard Keczely, 22, of Chalfont, and Thomas Yuknus, 20, of Doylestown, allegedly stole watches, iPhones, iPods, and credit cards from the lockers, police said. They then allegedly used the cards at various retail stores in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
Hatfield Township Police have arrested and charged two Bucks County men with 32 criminal offenses, including felony theft, in connection with nine thefts from lockers at Hatfield Ice World, 350 County Line Road, Hatfield, between October 2012 and March 2013. Richard Keczely, 22, of Chalfont, and Thomas Yuknus, 20, of Doylestown, allegedly stole watches, iPhones, iPods, and credit cards from the lockers, police said. Keczely and Yuknus allegedly used the stolen credit cards at several retail locations in Montgomery and Bucks counties, police said. Keczely and Yuknus are each charged with felony theft, felony conspiracy to commit theft, felony receiving stolen property, felony conspiracy of receiving stolen property, six misdemeanor counts …
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Authorities believe the identity-theft devices were identified and removed quickly.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Thursday, January 24
ATM skimmers ― illicit devices that blend into a cash machine's card slot, then record bank card info for later retrieval by a thief ― were found on two bank ATMs in Montgomery County earlier this month. PhillyBurbs.com reports that the devices were found on Jan. 5 and 6 on the ATMs of Wells Fargo branches on Skippack Pike in Whitpain and Whitemarsh townships. Authorities believe that the devices were discovered quickly and that no customer accounts were compromised. Other skimmers have recently been found on ATMs in Bucks County and in Medford, NJ. Security expert Brian Krebs told KYW Newsradio that ATM skimmers are growing increasingly sophisticated and difficult to spot. One way to defend yourself, Krebs said, is to shield your PIN …
Willie G. Manley Jr., 62, was allegedly involved in a massive mortgage fraud scheme between May 2004 and February 2009 in West Philadelphia
A Lansdale accountant faces 137 years in prison, after he was charged Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice with five fraud counts and one aiding and abetting count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Willie G. Manley Jr., 62, of the 800 block of Monticello Place, faces a conspiracy charge to commit loan and wire fraud, three counts of loan fraud, one count of lying to the Federal Housing Administration Loan, two counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting, authorities said. Manley, authorities allege, is part of a massive mortgage fraud scheme that operated between May 2004 and February 2009 in West Philadelphia, authorities said. The fraud scheme involved more than $20 million in load …
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Customers purchase pre-paid debit cards that are then drained by fraudsters, the company said.
- BUSINESS
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Thursday, January 17
A scam in which PECO customers are misled into purchasing pre-paid debit cards which are then drained of funds is targeting the Philadelphia region, the electric and gas utility said Thursday. In the scam, customers are contacted by persons who claim to work for PECO and informed that they must make an immediate payment in order to avoid their electricity being shut off. The phony employee then instructs the customer to purchase a pre-paid debit card from a convenience store or similar location, then to provide that card's number. The fraud operators then drain the funds on the card. “We want to make our customers aware of this scam so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of this and other fraudulent activities,” said Mark …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Doylestown pharmacist calls doctor's office, only to reach "Nicole."
- POLICE & FIRE
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Tuesday, January 15
A Montgomery Township resident allegedly attempted to pass off forged prescriptions as legitimate at a Doylestown pharmacy. It was thanks to an inquisitive pharmacist that authorities caught her. Angelique Thalia Samios, 22, of County Line Road, Montgomery Township, used a doctor’s prescription pad to alter a prescription for herself, according to a report on PhillyBurbs.com. A pharmacist at Country Food Market Pharmacy, on State Street in Doylestown, thought to call Samios’s doctor listed on the prescription, according to reports. When he did so, his call was answered by a woman named “Nicole” who insisted the prescription was “good.” “The pharmacist then looked up the doctor’s office number on the pharmacy computer, called and was told …
Sunday, November 25, 2012
If you're in the market for a used car, make sure it's not one of the thousands of vehicles damaged during Superstorm Sandy .
The National Insurance Crime Bureau and Amica Insurance warn against inadvertantly purchasing vehicles that were declared total losses as a result of Superstorm Sandy. Amica Insurance released a press release last week, offering tips to help consumers identify and avoid water-damaged cars, which were declared a loss by insurance, then potentially fraudulently resold to new buyers. "Salvage operators and dealers may try to conceal the fact that a car has been damaged," said Shannon O'Brien, an Amica Insurance assistant vice president, "leaving potential buyers as potential victims of a bad deal." The NCIB offers VINCheck, a free consumer protection service to help potential car buyers identify cars which may have sustained flood or other …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Francesco "Frank" Messina, 43, of Upper Gwynedd, is headed to county trial for allegedly bilking three people out of a motorcycle or a refund
An Upper Gwynedd man headed to trial for allegedly helping to run a multicounty organized methamphetamine ring was in court again, this time for numerous alleged fraudulent motorcycle sales. Francesco “Frank” Messina, 43, of the 600 block of Garfield Avenue, West Point, is charged with six counts of felony theft by deception and two counts of felony deceptive business practices, according to Dan Sokil of The Reporter. According to the article, Messina waived his hearing Thursday at Lansdale District Court. There, Messina, talked to alleged victims on how to make up for lost money or bikes, according to the article. According to the article, a man reported a possible theft to Lansdale Police on March 20 related to the sale of a Harley-…
Monday, October 1, 2012
An Allentown man was added to the list of defendants in 'Operation Hard Target' – a sophisticated theft ring that allegedly defrauded Target stores throughout Pennsylvania of more than $20,000.
Chance Cameron, of Allentown, was the third man arrested for his alleged involvement in a sophisticated theft ring, in which suspects are accused of affixing lower-priced UPC labels to higher-priced products to defraud Target stores and selling the products online for profit, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's office. Cameron's arrest was announced when one of the other defendants in "Operation Hard Target," Eugene Joseph Romano of Center Valley, Pa., appeared in a Montgomery County court room last week. According to a complaint filed in District Court 38-1-03, Romano 34, and Cameron, 35, have been charged along with Damian Gasdaska of Phillipsburg, NJ, with committing 46 individual retail thefts at Target Stores in …
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Montgomery County District Attorney Ferman says ringleaders lived lavish lifestyles.
[This article was updated at 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7] Five people have been arrested and warrants issued for 17 others in an elaborate scheme to defraud Comcast of more than $2.4 million between April 2011 and April 2012, the Montgomery County District Attorney's office said Tuesday. The district attorney's office said Alston Buchanan, 28; Leighton Harrell, 26; Kendall Singleton, 26; and Richard Justin Spraggins, 29, all of Philadelphia; and Nicholas Caputo, 31, of Virginia Beach, Va., were "top members of an elaborate criminal organization" that led Comcast customers to make one-time payments to them in exchange for a one-time reduction in their Comcast service bills. "This is a corrupt organization involving a number of individuals …
Friday, July 27, 2012
Lansdale Police said a man from West Second Street was the victim of a phone scam, which promised an $8,000 grant for college by wiring $142
Lansdale Police said a man from the 800 block of West Second Street was a recent victim of a phone scam. Police said the victim was contacted by a person claiming to represent "National Government Grant" and affiliated with "Federal Bank." The victim was told that he was eligible to receive an $8,000 grant for college if he wired them $142, police said. The man wired the money and never received any further correspondence, police said. The victim reported the scam to police on July 26 at 6 p.m. Lansdale Police encourage residents to be cautious and suspicious of phone calls where an individual requests wiring of money in exchange for something else.
KingPin
12:20 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013
Dumb and dumber... They call it a locker for a reason. To be locked, not put your stuff in a metal box. I hope these two get what's coming to them. I say if your caught the first time stealing cut off a pinky. The 2nd time cut off the hand. The 3rd time cut off the other hand. People will start to learn if these measures are taken. more ›