February 10, 2016

Authorities announced the arrest of Mohammad Shahid Zaman, of Staten Island, NY, who allegedly was a central figure in an elaborate fraud scheme in which the participants used fictitious identities to obtain credit cards and open bank accounts which they used to steal approximately $3 million from various banks. The scheme included a group of “merchants” who in many cases allegedly ran shell businesses set up solely for the purpose of participating in this fraud. The merchants allegedly swiped the fraudulent credit cards using point of sale terminals and received reimbursement from credit card processing companies via wire transfer, while never actually providing any merchandise or services. Twelve other defendants were charged by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in December as a result of a joint state and federal investigation. NJ