Florida man indicted for hurricane Katrina related eBay scam
Published August 19th, 2006
US Auction Info
A federal grand jury has accused a Florida man of creating a bogus Hurricane Katrina relief Web site and several other bogus sites claiming to be Western Pennsylvania organizations in an effort to gather sensitive financial information from would-be donors.
Jovany Desir, 20, of Miami, was charged with wire fraud in the five-count indictment issued yesterday. The investigation was undertaken in Pittsburgh because the purported relief effort was said to be linked to an American Red Cross chapter in Western Pennsylvania, authorities said. Another bogus site mimicked the Web site for Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, they said.
Authorities alleged that Mr. Desir sold the sites for $150 to would-be scammers who planned to use the financial information for identity theft and related crimes. In addition to the Katrina and PNC sites, authorities alleged that Mr. Desir created bogus sites for eBay, Paypal and two Canadian financial institutions, Banque Nationale and Desjardins Credit Union.
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