The district attorney in Manhattan indicted 27 people for running a crime ring out of Brooklyn, N.Y. which bought Apple products with stolen credit card information and then resold them at a profit.
The credit card forgery and identity theft ring, known as “S3,” purchased and resold Apple products all over the country, beginning in June 2008. The group purchased the credit information from online data traffickers, including names and credit card account numbers. With a shared e-mail account, they used the information to create counterfeit credit cards, which were used to buy merchandise at Apple retail stores.
Items purchased included iPods, MacBooks, iPads and gift cards. The items were purchased in Apple store locations in New York, Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut, Alabama, Oregon, Indiana, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The products were sold for cash at below-retail prices to people in Brooklyn known as “fences,” who then resold the goods for a profit.
The group’s leader was Shaheed Bilal, who was serving time in Rikers Island on unrelated charges. Despite being incarcerated, he continued to lead S3 with the assistance of his girlfriend, Ophelia Alleyne. He was released from prison in December 2010, and continued to purchase, receive and share stolen credit card information.
Bilal’s brothers, Ali and Rahim, are accused of recruiting shoppers to buy the products at the stores.
Charges against all those involved include grand larceny, conspiracy and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Investigators seized $300,000 in cash and bank holdings from the ring at the time of arrest.
