Tag: Brazil

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!

Somali National, Others, Arrested in Brazil for Trafficking Africans and Middle Easterners to US Border

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 4 Comments
map Brazil to US
Of course I still want to know how all the poor Africans found the money to get them to Brazil in the first place!

 

The US Justice Department made the announcement of the arrests here earlier this month.

International Law Enforcement Cooperation Leads to Brazilian Takedown of Significant Human Smugglers

brazil federal police
Brazil Federal Police

Earlier today, extensive coordination and cooperation efforts between United States and Brazilian law enforcement and prosecution authorities culminated in the Brazil Federal Police (DPF) conducting a significant enforcement operation to disrupt and dismantle a transnational criminal organization.

The human smuggling organization targeted is alleged to be responsible for the illicit smuggling of scores of individuals from East Africa and the Middle East, into Brazil, and ultimately to the United States. The enforcement operation included the execution of multiple search warrants and the arrests of three prolific, Brazil-based human smugglers on Brazilian charges: Abdifatah Hussein Ahmed (a Somalian national); Abdessalem Martani (an Algerian national); and Mohsen Khademi Manesh (an Iranian national).

“We commend today’s efforts by our Brazilian counterparts to take decisive action under their recently enacted human smuggling laws against criminal networks that threaten the national security of Brazil, the United States and other nations,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Such collaborative efforts with our foreign law enforcement partners show our collective resolve to hold international human smugglers to account to the fullest extent of the law.”

Assistance provided by U.S. authorities was coordinated under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department, Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources. ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

The Center for Immigration Studies has more on this, see here.

U.S.-Supported Brazilian Op Busts Smugglers Moving Migrants from Muslim-Majority Countries

Maybe the Prez is already doing it, but he should be trumpeting news like this at rallies and on Twitter.

The average American has no idea that his Administration is making some headway in the area of law enforcement—whether that involves the opioid crisis as I reported yesterday here, or big Medicare, Medicaid and Food stamp fraud busts that I’ve been reporting on regularly here at Frauds and Crooks.

How the Congo is Moving to Welcoming Maine

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 13 Comments

“Along the way, word passed from mouth to mouth about a far-off place that would welcome them: Portland, Maine.”

 
I hope you all had a great Independence Day yesterday!
This story from the Portland Press Herald is one of many stories I have in a queue on the migration to Portland, Maine by Africans who heard about Portland and obviously had the money to travel there!
Unfortunately, I have little time (I’m going away Sunday) to tell you about all of those stories, but this one outlines how the migration is happening after the apparently well-funded and well-fed Africans flew to South America and headed north from there.
(My previous posts on Portland are here.)
 

Africans in Portland
One of the starving Africans being helped in Portland, Maine.  Thérèse Ononye and her two year old daughter who was born in Brazil.

 
If you want to experience the joy the ‘humanitarians’ of Maine are experiencing there are two things you need—a growing ethnic community (Somali, Congolese, Nigerian, whatever) because they want to live with their own kind of people, and generous social services, and they will come!
Oh, and by the way, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, 35,000 more Africans are staged in Central America ready to make the jump to the US border.
Recently someone told me that a family member was fed up with Seattle and had bought a house in Portland, Maine.  The thought, which I did not express, was this:  What the h*** don’t people read!
Continue reading “How the Congo is Moving to Welcoming Maine” →