Just buying gasoline in Arizona could result in your credit card number being stolen. According to reports, creative Arizona credit card thieves are using what’s called “skimmers” to obtain credit card information directly from the pumps and then using the numbers for their own benefit. [read more...]

Typically when you hear about identity theft, it involves a onetime occurrence. Someone uses another’s name or information to buy something on credit. Well in this case, a Phoenix man is accused of assuming someone else’s identity for a period of 8 years! [read more...]

Fraud seems to be making headlines in Flagstaff this week as a quick look at the news showed two local cases, one involving bad checks and another charging a local business owner with fraud, theft, anf forgery. [read more...]

Whether you walk into a store and shoplift some new clothes or take something from a friend’s house that doesn’t belong to you, it is theft. If that something involves personal indentifying information that you later use for your own benefits, it could be considered identity theft. Either way, if convicted, you can face serious penalties.

According to this ABC15.com story, a Gilbert man was just recently convicted and sentenced for a crime that began about 12 years ago. Leonal Guerrero used the social security number he stole over 12 years ago from a Michigan man to purchase a vehicle, obtain employment, and get a credit card. [read more...]

A Tempe restaurant owner is facing some serious charges after using stolen credit cards to purchase goods and services. According to this report from the Arizona Republic Andrew Paparella Jr. was arrested after trying to purchase and redeem gift certificates at a local masseuse using stolen credit cards. Some quick thinking from staff there helped police crack this interesting case.

Paparella owns the Citrus Café in Chandler. It turns out he was using the credit card numbers of his café patrons to make money and relax on their dime. Aside from getting massages, Paparella was buying expensive equipment and selling much of it on ebay.

It’s not clear exactly what charges he will face but the article states $5,000 is a “conservative estimate” of the value of his fraudulent acts. If this is the case, he will definitely be facing felony charges and a potential prison sentence. [read more...]

Peggy Moore befriended her older neighbor after the neighbor’s husband passed. She helped her with finances and things the woman didn’t feel she could handle on her own. Moore likely gained her neighbor’s trust without the woman even realizing she was about to be taken advantage of. The elderly woman appointed Moore power of attorney.

According to the Phoenix news, the elderly woman slowly became ill and was no longer mentally competent to handle her financial and personal affairs. This is when Moore allegedly began taking advantage of her position with the woman.

Over a period, Moore signed the woman’s home into her own name and purchased a few high dollar vehicles. She also reportedly paid her own bills with the money according to the police’s probable cause statement. [read more...]