Virginia Feds Get 3 Guilty Pleas In Scam That Ripped Off $600K+ From Unwitting Homeowners' HELOC Accounts; One Suspect Remains A Fugitive

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Eastern District - Virginia):

• Chad Antoine Vieux, age 27, of Central Islip, New York, pled guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud, [...] and one count of Bank Fraud, [...]. On April 2, 2009, Happie Harris, age 27 of Chester, Virginia, and on May 4, 2009, Sandra Caiby-Ramkissoon, age 37, of Glen Allen, Virginia also pled guilty to the same charges.

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• According to court documents, beginning in 2007, Caiby, Vieux, and Harris conspired with individuals who targeted victims with large amounts of available credit on their Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and credit card accounts. These other individuals obtained personal and financial information for various victims. They then obtained accounts with companies that provide what is commonly called a “caller-ID spoofing” service. This allowed the individuals to make a call appear as though they were coming from the victims’ homes. Armed with the victims’ financial and personal information, these individuals then called the victims’ financial institution, answered security questions, changed account passwords, obtained account balances, and transferred funds from the victims’ accounts. The funds were ultimately transferred into bank accounts under the control of the defendants.

• Once the defendants received the money, they provided the funds to the individuals who had collected the financial information of the victims and called their financial institutions, keeping a percentage of the funds as payment for allowing their bank accounts to be used to facilitate the fraud. The total fraud and intended fraud perpetrated by the defendants exceeds $600,000.

• Shannon Lamont Greene, a/k/a/ Devonte Carr, Devonte Green, and Shannon Israel, age 32, of New York, was also charged. He remains a fugitive.

For the press release, see Three Defendants Plead Guilty to Conspiracy and $600,000 Bank Fraud Scheme. TheftOfDeedMeta