2 sentenced for bank fraud, identity theft.

A Bulgarian man and a Florida woman will spend a decade in jail after identity theft and bank fraud which cost Bank of America at least $862,478.

Antonio Velikov, 41, and Mariana Biserova Pashova, 35, were both sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison. They pleaded guilty in June to bank fraud, possession of more than 300 counterfeit credit or debit cards and aggravated identity theft.

The duo were arrested by Hoover police in May 2011 as they attempted to install a skimmer on a Regions Bank ATM. A skimmer is a camouflaged device that can read and store information from the cards.

“This pair was involved in ATM skimming operations in six Southern states, including Alabama,” U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said in a statement.

When caught, more than $50,000 in cash, a magnetic-stripe encoder, a camouflaged skimmer, laptops, computer accessories and 340 counterfeit cards were recovered from their room.

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Florida Realtors Warned About Identity Theft Scam

Thousands of Florida Realtors and other professionals with state licenses are being warned of a “very official”-looking identity theft scam that lures potential victims with threats of disciplinary action.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates professions ranging from contractors to cosmetologists, began getting complaints about the scam last week.

Sandi Poreda, communications director for the department, said license holders are getting e-mails that look like they are from the department and claim there are disciplinary actions pending against the recipient. The license holder is directed to call a “department investigator” at a toll-free number where they are asked for personal data such as drivers license information and social security numbers.

“It looks very official,” Poreda said about the e-mail, which is being investigated by the department. “They copied the banner on our website and created an e-mail signature that looks very much like ours.”

While Realtors submitted the initial complaints about the scam, Poreda said the department doesn’t know how people are being targeted and therefore are notifying all of their license holders.

Officials fear the scam could be more effective than a typical e-mail solicitation because the department does contact licenses holders through e-mail about disciplinary issues. But Poreda said an official notice is typically also sent via regular mail.

“It’s important for people to know that this contact is not coming from us,” she said.

Anyone who gets a suspicious warning of disciplinary action from the department is being asked to call 850-487-1395 and report it to law enforcement.

The Federal Trade Commission reported earlier this year that Florida ranked first in the nation last year for the number of identity theft complaints per capita. Georgia followed, with California coming in third.

Florida’s top identity theft complaints came from fraud relating to government documents, such as tax returns, followed by credit card fraud and bank fraud.

(Source: Kimberly Miller The Palm Beach Post, Fla. (MCT)

Bank insider nabbed

Former Bank of America teller Jeffrey Gautreaux, 25, of Peabody, MA was charged in federal court for allegedly stealing bank customer identities in a scheme to fraudulently withdraw bank funds.

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Bank insider nabbed