MIAMI MAN SENTENCED TO 9 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR HURRICANE KATRINA-RELATED FRAUD SCHEME
United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced today, April 14, 2008, that on April 11, 2008, Jovany Desir of Miami, Florida, was sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh to nine months of imprisonment followed by three months of home detention on his conviction of wire fraud related to an online scheme to steal credit card and other sensitive financial information from those seeking to donate to Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts or conduct online banking through PNC Bank.
United States District Judge Terrence F. McVerry imposed the sentence on Desir, age 22.
According to information presented to the court by Assistant United States Attorneys Luke Dembosky and Paul E. Hull, from in and around July 2005 to in and around October 2005, Desir created and sold fraudulent web sites, known as "phishing" sites, which were designed to deceive persons who believed they were dealing with legitimate web site locations for banks, charitable organizations, and online auction and payment services. The phishing web sites, packaged in "phishing kits" that sometimes included online testimonials requesting donations, recorded personal financial information of individuals deceived into believing they were providing the information on the legitimate web site, including customer names, addresses, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, PIN numbers, Credit Verification Values (CVVs), and related information for bank accounts, credit cards and online auction and payment services. Among the fraudulent web sites Desir created were ones mimicking sites for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts, PNC Bank, eBay, Paypal and two Canadian financial institutions, Banque Nationale and Desjardins Credit Union. Desir sold the phishing sites to would-be scammers for approximately $150 each. One such site, for Banque Nationale, received approximately 8,500 "hits", while the Red Cross site was downloaded by approximately 56 individuals.
Ms. Buchanan commended the United States Secret Service, assisted by the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Task Force, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Desir.
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