Ex-Federation Worker Charged in ID Theft Scam
A worker at UJA-Federation in New York allegedly led a $2 million identity theft ring that targeted top donors to the charitable organization, prosecutors announced Friday.
Tracy Nelson, of Brooklyn, worked at UJA-Federation for more than two years processing donations until she was fired last summer as the thefts came to light, the Daily News reported.
Officials told the paper Nelson snapped pictures of checks given to the charity by donors and collected names, addresses and account numbers of her victims.
She allegedly sold the information to other members of the gang, who used it to create fraudulent checks and open credit cards in the victims’ names.
Among the victims of the ring was reclusive mogul Ira Rennert, the paper said.
More than 50 members of the gang were arrested Friday, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
“Today’s indictment reveals another tool of organized identity thieves – insiders who betray their employers and prey on clients,” Vance said in a press release. “These insiders used their positions to gain access to client data, and then sold that data to make money for themselves and their accomplices.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
