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Crime Cellphones The Courts

Prison Inmate Accused of Orchestrating $11 Million Fraud Using Cell Cellphone (theregister.com) 75

Posted by BeauHD from the sneaky-inmates dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: On June 8, 2020, an individual claiming to be billionaire film producer and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel contacted brokerage Charles Schwab by phone and stated that he had uploaded a wire disbursement form using the service's secure email service. The only problem was the call apparently came from prison. Still, the caller made reference to a transfer verification inquiry earlier that day by his wife -- a role said to have been played by a female co-conspirator. The individual allegedly posing as Kimmel had contacted a Schwab customer service representative three days earlier -- on June 5, 2020 -- about opening a checking account, and was told that a form of identification and a utility bill would be required. On June 6, a co-conspirator is alleged to have provided a picture of Kimmel's driver's license and a Los Angeles Water and Power utility bill. According to court documents [PDF] filed by the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Georgia, the uploaded documents consisted of a request for funds to be wired to an external bank and a forged letter of authorization -- both of which appeared to be signed by Kimmel.

On June 9, satisfied that Kimmel had been adequately authenticated, the brokerage sent $11 million from Kimmel's Schwab account to a Zions Bank account for Money Metal Exchange, LLC, an Eagle, Idaho-based seller of gold coins and other precious metals. The real Kimmel had no knowledge of the transaction, which resulted in the purchase of 6,106 American Eagle gold coins. The individual who orchestrated the fraudulent purchase of the coins is alleged to have hired a private security firm on June 13, 2020 to transport the coins from Boise, Idaho to Atlanta, Georgia on a chartered plane. An associate of the fraudster allegedly took possession of the coins three days later. All the while the alleged mastermind, Arthur Lee Cofield Jr, was incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Butts County, Georgia, according to the government. Cofield is serving a 14-year sentence for armed robbery and is also under indictment in Fulton County, Georgia for attempted murder.

The day after the coins were purchased, prison staff are said to have searched Cofield's cell and recovered a blue Samsung cellphone hidden under his arm. The prison forensic unit apparently determined that Cofield had been using an account on free voice and messaging service TextNow and matched the phone number with calls made to Money Metals Exchange. On December 8, 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Cofield and two co-conspirators for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. Cofield's attorney, Steven Sadow, subsequently sought to suppress the cellphone evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds, arguing that the warrantless search of the device by prison officials was unrelated to the legitimate function of prison security and maintenance. The government said otherwise, insisting that Cofield does not have standing to contest the search, having no "legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of a contraband cell phone." The judge overseeing the case sided with the government [PDF] and certified the case to proceed to trial.
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Prison Inmate Accused of Orchestrating $11 Million Fraud Using Cell Cellphone More

Prison Inmate Accused of Orchestrating $11 Million Fraud Using Cell Cellphone

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  • These are pretty physically restricted area's usually in some geographical isolation zone, jam the fucking things!

    Prisoners don't need them, and the staff should be doing their jobs instead of hanging out with fuckoff book all day,

    • what about lowering the cost of prison phones?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

        what about treating prisoners like prisoners?

        I am not saying be cruel or inhumane, but for fuck sake, these are contraband phones. If a prisoner wishes to make a phone call they can wait in line to use the monitored land line, if that's a heartache ... well maybe they shouldn't be robbing people at gunpoint (which I do have experience with a couple times cause I had the audacity to be walking to my apartment at the time)

        • At some point, you just can't look up another butt.

        • Re:what about lowering the cost of prison phones? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday October 13, 2022 @09:14PM (#62964875)

          they can wait in line to use the monitored land line

          The landline requires the prisoner to have money in their commissary account. They are expensive to use, and many inmates can't afford them.

          Prisoners who maintain social ties with their families and communities are less likely to re-offend. That's bad for business if you run a prison or a guard union.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Shaiku ( 1045292 )

            That's a fine argument for making the prison phones cheaper but in no way does that apply to contraband cell phones. These phones aren't smuggled in to be used to call loved ones back home and tuck them into bed.

            • These phones aren't smuggled in to be used to call loved ones back home

              Actually, that is one of the reasons.

              If you have a cellphone, you can rent it out by the minute for money, favors, or loyalty.

              You can profitably charge less than the official phones, and your customers can talk with no one snooping.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by mjwx ( 966435 )

            they can wait in line to use the monitored land line

            The landline requires the prisoner to have money in their commissary account. They are expensive to use, and many inmates can't afford them.

            Prisoners who maintain social ties with their families and communities are less likely to re-offend. That's bad for business if you run a prison or a guard union.

            Yet another reason prisons shouldn't be a business. If someone has done something bad enough that they need to be isolated from society, the state (ergo, the people in a democratic nation) should take on that burden. That way we aren't locking people up for minor crimes and misdemeanours because it's profitable.

            • Only 8% of America's prisons are private.

              Private prisons are a bad idea, but they are not the main cause of our dysfunctional criminal justice system.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by tragedy ( 27079 )

                Only 8% may be fully private, but I think you'll find that a lot more are public/private. I.E. the government owns the prisons, but various private companies run various parts of the prison. For example commissaries, phone, tv, food service are often contracted out. Even when the prisoners are the ones handling food service, chances are that they're actually working for a private company that has a contract with the prison. Many public prisons also have public/private arrangements for guards and other staff

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by mjwx ( 966435 )

                Only 8% of America's prisons are private.

                Private prisons are a bad idea, but they are not the main cause of our dysfunctional criminal justice system.

                I understand what you're saying and that's a good point.

                However a business is not solely private. You can have government departments that are run like businesses. Sometimes this is a good thing, a lot of countries around the world run their utilities or other departments as if they were private businesses to cut political interference and red tape, essentially as a private businesses that has one shareholder (the govt). For prisons it isn't a good idea. Prisons should be a burden in a free society, some

          • they can wait in line to use the monitored land line

            The landline requires the prisoner to have money in their commissary account. They are expensive to use, and many inmates can't afford them.

            They should self-finance. So the cost should be tied to the cost of the actual phone, the monthly bill to get a landline, plus the cost associated to having someone monitoring the conversation live if required, or the cost of the recording equipment.
            But yes, in the end, it shouldn't be too expensive.

            And there shouldn't be waiting lines. If there are, just raise the price and get more phones + lines until the supply matches the demand.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tragedy ( 27079 )

              They should self-finance. So the cost should be tied to the cost of the actual phone, the monthly bill to get a landline, plus the cost associated to having someone monitoring the conversation live if required, or the cost of the recording equipment.

              While that would show great entrepreneurial spirit, somehow don't think that the prisons would go for it. Also, the ones with the hidden cell phones are actually usually doing exactly what you suggest, minus the monitoring.

        • The guards often are the ones who smuggle them in for inmates.

          • The guards often are the ones who smuggle them in for inmates.

            Often against their will. Prisoners have a knack for finding out where they live and threatening their families.

        • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          In some countries prisoners do have access to communications and the internet. In those countries prison is focused on rehabilitation, rather than punishment. The goal is to turn that person into a productive member of society who won't reoffend. Maintaining family ties and slowly re-integrating with society before release is one of the ways they do that.

    • These are pretty physically restricted area's usually in some geographical isolation zone, jam the fucking things!

      A much better option would be to install wire mesh in the buildings to create a Faraday cage and to drop the price of phone calls.

      Honestly, for-profit prisons are driving this behavior by doing absolutely nothing to help reform inmates to become productive members of society. The cruelty and indifference shown to prisoners on a daily basis only ensures they will continue their criminality... and that is the point of it in the first place.

    • Reopen the prison islands. South Georgia island would be a pretty good one.
    • Jamming of phone signals is a federal crime. Let's not give the government powers / precedent to do so themselves or private entities when they feel like it or else we'll start to see it happening in schools and government buildings, and then soon enough your boss can apply for a permit to jam your phone.
  • At least he has an ethos.
  • He needs to do something to pass the time.
  • Per TFA (The TFS copied most but not all of the article verbatim), Schwab considered this unauthorized activity and reimbursed the victim. That's a heck of a loss to take. No mention of how the phone call "apparently came from prison" but that sure should be a red flag. Even a Google search is light on details. Maybe for fear of giving information to would-be copycats. I've never wired eleven million dollars but even the largish ones I've done (think six digits, not eight) involved a callback to the ph

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by kenh ( 9056 )

      Per TFA (The TFS copied most but not all of the article verbatim), Schwab considered this unauthorized activity and reimbursed the victim. That's a heck of a loss to take.

      Let's not forget it was also a heck of a stupid mistake to just send $11M on such thin approval, I'm fairly certain the banker that processed the trade cut some corners for such an important customer...

      No mention of how the phone call "apparently came from prison" but that sure should be a red flag.

      And since the prisoner was using a smuggled cell phone, how was Schwab to know the call "was from prison"?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by SysWiz ( 109359 )

        And since the prisoner was using a smuggled cell phone, how was Schwab to know the call "was from prison"?

        Excellent point.

      • Again great question where there is a dearth of details available and so we can't really learn much from this incident :(

  • About half of inmates (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Max_W ( 812974 )
    are de jure guilty, but de facto innocent. A smartphone is a good way to do something useful during this time like learning a foreign language, a new trade, playing chess, etc.

    I hear that sometimes prisons are just hatred factories, and in such a case having a legit smartphone could be a window of opportunity. Perhaps these smartphones could be also monitored? Like we do with children?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Entrope ( 68843 )

      Exactly what do you think "de facto innocent" means? A criminal trial is conducted by a trier of fact who determines whether the government could prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant committed the charged crime. The trier of fact is the jury in a jury trial, and the judge in a bench (non-jury) trial -- their role is specifically to determine facts.

      If your (unsupported) assertion is that half of convicts did not actually commit the crimes they are imprisoned for, given the fraction of convi

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tragedy ( 27079 )

        If your (unsupported) assertion is that half of convicts did not actually commit the crimes they are imprisoned for, given the fraction of convictions obtained by plea rather than full trial, then an awful lot of them are guilty of perjury -- guilty pleas are sworn statements.

        Suborning perjury is also a crime. So are you suggesting that basically all prosecutors should go to prison as well?

  • "a blue Samsung cellphone"

    Blue? Ah! I wondering about that.

  • It constantly pitches voice print authentication. Its really a stupid idea, especially given the deep fake audio technology development.

    There is so much of easy publicly available audio for the billionaires. So it must be easy to construct a box that modifies the voice in real time. So many people post themselves in video in social media and youtube, all of them can be compromised.

    Sent them a mail saying I don't believe in voice print, never turn on voice print. But they keep pitching for voice print.

  • Gives new meaning to the term "cell phone."

  • I'm surprised the prison facilities doesn't have their own cell towers/stingray devices.

  • Turn all "common" areas, cells etc into a "faraday cage". No signals can get in or out of the space.

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