Friday, October 19, 2007

NYC Mortgage Fraud / I.D. Theft Investigation Picking Up Steam

In the New York City metropolitan area, the mortgage fraud, identity theft case against Jacob Milton, 41, of Port Washington, New York appears to be expanding, according to a story in Newsday. He currently is charged with scamming another man's identity, buying two homes in his name and leaving him more than $1 million in debt. Suspected victims are reportedly coming out of the woodwork, as they are emerging both in Queens and Nassau counties claiming that their identities were stolen and used to make credit card purchases at chain stores there. An excerpt from the story:

  • The investigation, which started in July, is expected to uncover dozens - maybe hundreds - of victims, police sources said, and is likely to involve millions of dollars in identity theft and mortgage fraud. Detectives still have reams of documents to sort through, but there is already evidence of widespread fraud, sources said, with names and addresses cut out of some documents then pasted onto others.
A woman arrested with Milton on Monday was initially identified as Nira Niru and described as his sister. Authorities now say her name is Shamsun Nira, 38, and that her relationship to Milton is not clear. She is being held on $500,000 bail. Milton is being held without bail on felony charges of grand larceny, identity theft and scheme to defraud, among others. For more, see Mortgage fraud case gathers momentum.

For earlier media reports, see:

Go here for other posts on Jacob Milton.

For an earlier alleged mortgage fraud scam with connections to the New York City Bangladeshi community and another mortgage broker operating out of Jackson Heights, Queens, see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 7:58 AM