Miami Man Convicted Of Using Stolen IDs To Rip Off Unwitting Homeowners' HELOC Accounts

From the U.S. Attorney's Office (Eastern District of Virginia):

• A jury convicted Henry “Uche” Obilo, age 29, of Miami, Fl., today of conspiracy to commit bank fraud involving a home equity line of credit fraud scheme that has been linked to $8 million in actual losses.(1)

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• According to court documents and evidence adduced at trial, the defendant and other co-conspirators used fee-based web databases to search for potential victim account holders with large balances in home equity line of credit (HELOC) accounts. This information included name, address, date of birth, and social security number. Once the conspirators identified a victim, they used other online databases to obtain information commonly used in security questions, such as the victim’s mother’s maiden name. The conspirators then obtained credit reports on the victims in order to verify personal information and account balances.

• Armed with a victim’s personal information, the conspirators called the victim’s financial institution, impersonated the victim, and transferred the majority of the available money from the HELOC account into an account from which a wire transfer could be sent.

For more, see Jury Finds Miami Man Guilty in $8 Million Bank-Fraud Conspiracy.

(1) Obilo is the seventh individual convicted in this case, and the first to be convicted following a jury trial. The other six, who all pled guilty, include: Abel Nnabue, age 33, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 54 months on Jan. 30, 2009; Precious Matthews, age 27, of Miami, who was sentenced 51 months on Feb. 13, 2009; Ezenwa Onyedebelu, age 20, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 37 months on Feb. 27, 2009; Daniel Orjinta, age 42, of Nigeria, who was sentenced to 42 months on March 6, 2009; Brandy Anderson, age 30, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 2 years of supervised probation and 40 days of community confinement on Feb. 20, 2009; and Paula Gipson, age 33, of Dallas, who pled guilty on Feb. 26, 2009 and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 22, 2009. DeedZetaTheft