Dentist receptionist stole patient info to buy $700K in Apple gift cards
February 5, 2015
A receptionist at a Manhattan dental office stole confidential information from hundreds of patient’s and teamed up with a former Apple employee to open fraudulent credit lines and buy hundreds of thousands in Apple gift cards, authorities said.
Annie Vuong, 27, allegedly copied the confidential records of over 250 patients, including their dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers and emailed the pilfered data to her cohort, former Apple salesman Devin Bazile, 30, court records show.
Bazile used the patients’ information to apply online for instant Apple credit lines ranging from $2,000 to $7,000 with an accomplice, Sharniqkwa Dukes, authorities alleged.
They received bar codes via email that could be used like a credit cards.
Bazile and another accomplice, Joshua Haughton, allegedly recruited crooked Apple employees in Manhattan, White Plains and New Jersey, authorities said.
They’d email the bar codes to Apple salesmen, including Ahmeen Evans, 26, to buy the gift cards so as not to arouse suspicion, court papers say.
The cybercrime ring allegedly bought $700,000 worth of Apple products with the fraudulent gift cards, according to the indictment.
The four were indicted on 394 counts of grand larceny, identity theft and other raps for the scam that ran from May to November 2012, court records show.
They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court. Justice Melissa Jackson set bail at $750,000 for the ringleader, Bazile.
Vuong, her attorney said in court, is currently working for American Express.
“Using stolen information to purchase Apple products is one of the most common schemes employed by cybercrime and identity theft rings today,” said District Attorney Cy Vance. “We see in case after case how all it takes is single insider at a company – in this instance, allegedly, a receptionist in a dentists’ office – to set an identity theft ring in motion, which then tries to monetize the stolen information by purchasing Apple goods for resale or personal use.”
Source: Dentist receptionist stole patient info to buy $700K in Apple gift cards
