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| Three Pakistanis charged with credit card scam in US |
| 2007-12-22 |
| JERSEY CITY, USA: Three Pakistan natives were charged on Wednesday with running a multi-million-dollar credit card scam out of phony perfume stores in Jersey City, Bayonne, North Bergen and outside Hudson County, officials were quoted as saying by the Jersey Journal on Thursday. The small group sent part of the money it bilked from the companies to Pakistan and the FBI is working to determine if the money was sent to fund nefarious activities such as terrorism, officials said. The Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio cautioned that there was no connection, as of now, to any particular group or organization. It could be it was just sent over there to be used for personal purposes in the future – but the FBI is investigating. On Wednesday, investigators arrested Abdul Razzaq Bhatti, 50, of Fords, and Iselin residents Zahida Anjum Qayyum, 36, and her brother, Mazhar Qayyum, on charges that include identity theft, money laundering, theft by deception and conspiracy, DeFazio said. A fourth suspect is sought, but his identity was not released. Bhatti and Zahida Qayyum appeared in court Wednesday, but Mazhar Qayyum complained of health problems and was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center to be cleared for incarceration, officials said. A Superior Court judge set Bhatti's bail at $2 million cash and Zahida Qayyum's at $1 million cash. "Operation Dollars and Scents" determined the group set up phony perfume businesses such as Kosmo Traders in Jersey City on Newark Avenue, Prestige Fragrances in Bayonne on Broadway, and Unique Traders in North Bergen on Kennedy Boulevard, and several in Iselin, DeFazio said. Officials believe the group never sold any products at the stores. The group set up corporate accounts with credit card companies for each fake business and then used credit cards in others names – some real people, some fictitious – and rung up sales until the cards were maxed out, DeFazio said. When a credit card company got wise, the ring would drop that company name and create a new one. So far, investigators have identified 15 to 20 fake businesses used at some time by the ring, said Lt Tom Cooney of the Prosecutor's Office's Special Investigations Unit. Eventually the credit card companies saw the pattern and contacted the Prosecutor's Office, which began an investigation six months ago. On Wednesday, warrants were executed at a dozen locations, including banks, as a result of the investigation by the Prosecutor's Office, the Postal Inspection Service, the Secret Service, the FBI, Customs and Immigrations Enforcement, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and police from Woodbridge and Jersey City, DeFazio said. A number of bank accounts were frozen and as investigators sorted through the information, the scope of the ring continued to grow, DeFazio said. In court, Zahida Qayyum proclaimed her innocence before the judge could caution her that anything she said would be used against her. "I don't have anything to do with this case," she told the judge. "I wish I could prove that somehow. I've not even been here long enough for that. I worked as an AmeriCorps worker for a year and then I started studying – paralegal." |
| Posted by:Fred |