In foolywang news, five people (four of them being Saks Fifth Ave sale associates) have been indicted on identity theft charges after stealing customers’ personal info to purchase designer items. And they racked up with $400K worth of designer digs. More inside….
People will stop at nothing for a quick come up.
A grand jury has indicted five people involved in an identity theft scheme, preying on Manhattan Saks Fifth Avenue customers. The alleged crooks stole personal information from Saks customers to buy hundreds of thousands worth of Chanel bags, Giuseppe Zanotti heels, Christian Louboutin, YSL and Givenchy labels to resale on black market or return to the store for cash.
There were five people allegedly involved. The accused ring leader (Tamara Williams, 36) did not work at Saks but provided the four sales associates (Kriss Rockson, 45, Jason Chance, 25, Alaia Harrison, 20, and Michael Knight-Williams, 44) with Social Security numbers and birthdays of more than 20 store credit card holders. With that information, the associates were able to steal $400,000 worth of luxury goods from Saks’ Midtown flagship store.
Pix 11 reports:
In some cases, sales associates gave the fraudulently-purchased merchandise to a group of “shoppers” that impersonated Saks account holders. The “shoppers” allegedly gave the stolen merchandise to Williams in various places in Queens, including hair salons and gas stations. The luxury items were then sold on the black market.
Shoppers were sometimes instructed to exchange stolen goods for gift cards, which were resold for a profit or used as payment to the shoppers.
Evidence shows no physical credit cards were ever presented. Credit card information was entered manually into the system by the sales associates who processed the transactions. There were also instances where customers were not at checkout during the purchases.
It's reported approximately 22 customers had their identities stolen, and the alleged thieves are facing over 60 counts in their indictment.
All five suspects have been charged with grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, identity theft, attempted identity theft, criminal possession of stolen property, and unlawful possession of personal identification information.
Sighs…people people.
Photo: ABC
