Month: November 2019

Brazilian Man Arrested for Bank Fraud, used Dunkin Donuts Gift Cards

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

I’m continually amazed at the complexity of the scams many foreigners are using to rip-off Americans and America.

Stories similar to this one pass me by every day and I can’t possibly post them all, but ones with a twist, like this one, are interesting and worth reporting.

Rarely are we rewarded with photos of the foreign fraudsters! Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti

In this case Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti, 35, is here illegally and according to one report on his arrest, he used a Brazilian passport to obtain a Florida drivers license—is that possible!

Can a person in the country apparently illegally (he is now being held on an immigration detainer) just willy-nilly get a drivers license?

Here is the bare outline of the scheme that enabled him to steal tens of thousands of dollars from New Hampshire banks.

Secret Service: Brazilian’s bank data scheme hits Seacoast ATMs

PORTSMOUTH — A Secret Service agent’s affidavit alleges a Brazilian man, with unnamed accomplices, were able to transfer stolen bank data onto Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards they used to withdraw more than $100,000 from bank ATMs in Manchester, Barrington, Dover, Durham and Portsmouth.

The affidavit was filed with the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire by Special Agent Timothy Benitez on Oct. 24, leading to a warrant for the arrest of Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti, 35.

Miami, Florida, police records show Borlotti was arrested Thursday for unrelated charges alleging he “reincoded” stolen bank data onto credit cards and is being held there on $22,500 bail, as well as an immigration detainer.

[….]

The federal charges in New Hampshire allege Borlotti reincoded bank account information onto Dunkin’ Donuts cards to withdraw cash at Federal Savings Bank locations in Barrington, Dover, Durham, Portsmouth and Rochester at different times in April and May.

[….]

The affidavit notes the Dunkin’ Donuts cards contained “a wide variety of both United States and foreign” bank account information and were used to withdraw cash across the Seacoast, as well as in Brazil.

[….]

Miami, Florida, police records report Borlotti is being held there on charges alleging trafficking counterfeit credit cards, organized fraud and two counts of credit card forgery/intent to defraud. He’s also being held on a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, according to court records.

Read the whole story for more details on the scam.

And, see here where we learn about the drivers license:

Officials said Borlotti has a Brazilian passport, which he used to obtain a Florida driver’s license.

Such clever foreign fraudsters among us!

Reminder!  Almost every day there is new news at Refugee Resettlement Watch. Check it out!

Trump Administration Halts Deportation of Possibly 300,000 Aliens

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 5 Comments

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have been here for more than a decade under a program that gave them temporary legal status, but is a flat-out sham.

Organized demonstrations like this one have happened wherever enclaves of certain ethnic groups have settled.

 

Temporary Protected Status protects those who were already in the country from about ten countries when something bad happened in their home country and that country claims it can’t take them back.  In order to get TPS status the migrant had to have been in the US already through some other means, including through illegal activities like visa overstays.

The protection was supposed to last no more than two years!

In reality the impoverished country from which they came doesn’t want them back because some are crooks and criminals, but others, those working and/or collecting benefits of some sort, send millions ‘home’ in the form of remittances.

Dollars that would go to fueling our economy now go to prop-up the economies of the third world.

Trump initially wanted to stop it, but the extensive legal network of Open Borders Inc. filed lawsuits and have thus caused the government to back down.

Hundreds of thousands (you know they have drivers licenses and are likely voting) will get to stay until about two weeks before the President is sworn in in January 2021.

Here is the depressing news at the Washington Examiner:

DHS to extend deportation protection program for citizens of six countries into 2021

The Trump administration is extending a program that allows illegal immigrants from six specific countries to obtain legal protection from deportation due to their home country’s inability to take back its own citizens.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, announced Friday it will continue granting protections under the Temporary Protected Status program for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan through Jan. 4, 2021. USCIS will publish a 27-page notice in the Federal Register detailing the plan on Monday.

The move could affect an estimated 300,000 in the U.S., according to a Congressional Research Service March estimate.

The move comes weeks after a federal judge ordered a temporary stop to the winding down of the six programs. DHS extended TPS due to the unresolved litigation over related cases.

Under TPS, those from certain countries who were in the U.S. illegally at the time of a natural disaster, war, famine, or similar situation, can apply for permission to legally remain at work in the country for two-year terms until their home country says it is stable for people to return.

Many of these countries had had their programs renewed many times, some for up to 15 years. Some recipients have been in the United States for 20 years under the program. [They put down roots and then scream how unfair America is for wanting them to go home!—ed]

[….]

Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also extended protections for recipients from Syria, South Sudan, and Yemen. Citizens from 10 countries are TPS recipients as of Friday.

More here.

I have a few posts on TPS here at ‘Frauds and Crooks,’ but more here at RRW.

Just another reminder, I am writing almost daily again at Refugee Resettlement Watch because news is coming fast and furious these days on the US Refugee Admissions Program.

TPS recipients are not refugees!

Chief Hate-Monger at SPLC is out!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

And, so fitting to learn the news on Halloween!

Heidi Beirich the Southern Poverty Law Center’s chief architect of their fake Hate Group List has resigned.

The Daily Beast suggests it is the latest in a leadership shakeup that followed the ousting of the SPLC’s founder Morris Dees back in the spring.

Maybe someone in the new leadership has figured out how dishonest and shoddy Ms. Heidi’s work has been!

One blogger does not make a GROUP!

I described here in February how I was once again added to their Hate Group list when I am a lone blogger—literally posting my opinions alone in my basement, and yes, at the moment in my pajamas!   One blogger is not a group!

Further demonstrating how sloppy their supposed investigations are, they couldn’t even get the town correctly identified where my supposed group meets to plot more hatefulness.

And, it wouldn’t be so bad, it would be funny! except for the fact that the mainstream media believes them with no questions asked.

Hmmm! Could the SPLC be expecting more lawsuits involving Ms. Beirich’s sloppy work?  She cost them $3.3 million last year!

I digress, here is the news from The Daily Beast (hat tip: Ted):

Southern Poverty Law Center Loses Intel-Gathering Boss

The leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project is stepping down amid an ongoing leadership shakeup at the anti-hate organization.

Heidi Beirich will leave the SPLC, ending a 20-year run with the organization, she told staffers Monday. Her exit follows several resignations and terminations of SPLC leadership this year—including its cofounder, who was fired amid sexual harassment allegations, and a deputy legal director who said the organization had “more work to do” to guarantee a respectful workplace.

Beirich has worked for the SPLC for 20 years. An expert on the neo-Confederate movement, she led the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, which produced much of the center’s front-facing journalism including its Intelligence Report magazine and Hatewatch blog. In a Monday memo to staff, she cited the two-decade anniversary as a reason for her departure.

“It was with a heavy, heavy heart given how deeply I care about this work and all of you amazing people,” she wrote. “As some of you may know, I reached my second decade here (yikes I’m old!) in September and I’ve felt for a while now that it may be time for a change for me.

It’s been a long and intense last few years for me, especially since Trump graced us with his presence and then with the challenges here at SPLC, and I am ready for a break and, after a few months of Netflix, a new start.”

 

Morris Dees (center) and Heidi Beirich in happier times—2016—before the you-know-what hit the fan! https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2016/0218/Does-the-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center-target-conservatives

 

But recent decades reportedly saw internal complaints against [Morris] Dees. The SPLC acknowledged this year that he was twice investigated for “inappropriate conduct,” although Dees denies wrongdoing. In March, two separate sets of SPLC employees penned letters to the center’s leadership, referencing allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination connected to Dees.

“Allegations of mistreatment, sexual harassment, gender discrimination and racism threaten the moral authority of this organization and our integrity along with it,” one of the employee groups wrote.

More here.

Enjoy your Netflix, and good riddance….!

See all of my posts here at ‘Frauds and Crooks’ and here at Refugee Resettlement Watch about the Southern Poverty Law Center which has in recent years become closely linked with the refugee contractors especially the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and with CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations).