“Feds Hang Up on $15 Million Cell Phone Cloning Scheme”

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Feds Hang Up on $15 Million Cell Phone Cloning Scheme Posted: 01 Sep 2010 03:03 PM PDT By ALICE MCQUILLAN Updated 5:45 PM EDT, Wed, Sep 1, 2010 A Rolodex worth of telephone company employees are on the hook for a scheme to make millions of dollars worth of fraudulent calls, feds said today. The nine former employees of Sprint had cloned customer cell phone numbers to make $15 million worth of calls, according to federal authorities. The alleged fraudsters, located in the Bronx, New Jersey and Tampa, are accused of illegally accessing customer accounts more than 16,000 times from January to June of this year, according to a criminal complaint. The plan got disconnected when customers complained about being billed for calls they didn't make -- many of those to numbers overseas, officials said. Sprint has credited these defrauded customers, authorities said. Store videotapes allegedly caught some of the employees illegally accessing customer accounts, the complaint said. When confronted, one suspect claimed that he was an event promoter who was gathering cell phone numbers for a promotional text blast, said the complaint. The suspects face charges including aggravated identify theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. First Published: Sep 1, 2010 4:05 PM EDT Selectfurioussadboredthrilledintriguedlaughing This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.

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