FRANKLIN/CHITTENDEN COUNTIES IN MIDDLE OF CROSS BORDER FRAUD CASE
The United States Justice Department announced today that they have four Canadian conspirators in custody for allegedly stealing credit card information and using it at ATMs for cash advances.
Mathiew Baaklini, 21 of Lavalle, Quebec; Safwan Bensalma, 21, of Laval, Quebec; Brandon Lo, 24, of Laval, Quebec; and Nicolau Manfredi, 21, of Montreal were charged with conspiracy to use access devices fraudulently resulting in the receipt of more than $1,000 in cash.
According to court records, the four men would travel to several Chittenden County ATMs where they would use fraudulent cards to steal thousands of dollars from their victims.
The complaint continues, describing a pattern of traveling fo several area banks, some in Franklin County, to deposit the money and wire it back to their personal accounts in Canada before crossing the border.
On one day in May, one of the men wired $11,000 in cash to himself in Canada from local banks in Franklin and Chittenden Counties.
The squad allegedly preferred NBT banks in Essex, Burlington and St. Albans, records show.
The US Justice Department said in a press release that the men are suspected of committing approximately 500 cash advances in just a three-day period in August, totaling $54,000 just from those heists.
The scheme dates back at least six months, according to court records.
On Friday, October 21st, agents from the FBI and other federal agencies executed a search warrant at a Williston storage unit the men were allegedly renting. During the search, agents discovered a laptop computer, a card reading device, approximately 378 gift cards with markings indicating that they had been rewritten with victims bank account information on them, and $33,000 in cash.
The four men were later arrested by Homeland Security Agents at the Highgate Springs Port of Entry as they attempted to cross into Vermont.
The four men each face up to 5 years in a federal prison and up to a quarter of a million dollar fine if convicted.
