S3 Identity Theft Ring Busted In Brooklyn

Feds arrest 27 in credit card forgery scam that compromised hundreds of bank accounts

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., this week announced indictments of 27 individuals in connection with S3, a credit card forgery and identity theft ring based in Brooklyn that compromised hundreds of bank accounts and fraudulently purchased Apple products from stores around the country to resell for profit.
According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, beginning in June 2008 the defendants, who called themselves S3, obtained personal identifying information, such as the names and credit card account numbers, of identity theft victims.
This information was purchased from online data traffickers via Web-based portals, and the purchasers stored the stolen credit card information in shared email accounts, allowing several defendants to begin creating counterfeit credit cards, the documents said.
The defendants then recruited individuals to act as shoppers, who entered stores armed with these manufactured cards containing the shoppers real names paired with stolen account information, according to the district attorneys office. The counterfeit credit cards were used to purchase goods for S3s own use or to resell for profit.
According to the court documents, the ringleader, Shaheed Bilal, was the leader of the first and original conspiracy. In May 2010, nearly two years after the ring began operating, Bilal was being held at Rikers Island on an unrelated charge.
Information obtained by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office revealed that he was directing the operation of S3 from inside jail by having his girlfriend, Ophela Alleyne, manage the day-to-day operations. Following his release from jail in December 2010, investigators identified that he was using a new email account, [email protected], to purchase, receive, and share stolen credit card data.
According to court documents, a shopper in Bilals operation, Anthony Harper, broke off from Bilals group to form his own ring, which ran in a similar fashion. The crimes that this ring is charged with committing constitute a second conspiracy, and is charged in a second, separate indictment.
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S3 Identity Theft Ring Busted In Brooklyn