New Identity Theft Cases Victimize Darien Residents: Police

DARIEN, CT — Darien police are investigating two separate cases of identity theft, and one case where a local teen was the victim of an internet scam. Earlier this month, two other cases of identity theft were reported to local police.

In the first of the latest trio of cases, almost $8,000 was fraudulently charged to the American Express account of a 39-year-old Darien resident on May 9.

"It was also discovered that her cell phone was ported to another provider, potentially in order to gain information about her credit card," wrote Darien police in a statement. "She is not out any money and the accounts have been successfully closed. There is no evidence of local criminal activity."

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The second case, involving an 18-year-old victim, was reported on May 12 following a "pet sitting email scam" that nearly netted the alleged perpetrators about $3,000.

It began on May 1, when the victim was contacted via email by someone named "Barbara B" who said they were "a care specialist at a job website named Care.com," who was allegedly offering a pet sitting job for people who were moving to Darien from Canada.

"The [teen victim] was advised by 'Barbara B' to contact a 'Nicole Doherty' at a gmail email address to obtain details of the job, which she did," wrote Darien police. "'Nicole Doherty' was purportedly the person moving to Darien. Email contact was made and the resident was advised that she would be taking care of two dogs, two days a week for three hours per day at a rate of $35.00 an hour. 'Nicole Doherty' stated that she would send the resident an advance check and the key to the Darien apartment where they would be living. 'Nicole Doherty' asked the resident for identifying and mailing information which was provided."

About a week later, the victim received in the mail what turned out to be a fake cashier's check, in the amount of $2,965, which said it was from "Keith Allen Clayton" of San Diego, California.

"The check was deposited by the resident on May 8th, and on May 9th , the resident received another email from 'Nicole Doherty' now asking her to withdraw cash from her account once the check cleared and that she would receive further instructions on what to do with the cash."

Upon contacting her bank, the victim discovered that the check was fraudulent, but fortunately, she did not suffer any financial loss. The case remains under investigation.

"The Darien Police Department again wishes to advise our residents of the potential pitfalls of internet scams such as this one," wrote the department. "Pet sitting email scams like this one have been reported in other jurisdictions and can be researched online. Any offer to send a check to a resident in advance of a face-to-face business meeting can almost assuredly be considered a scam. Look upon any unsolicited contact such as this with a critical eye. The old caveat is still of great utility today… 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'"

In the third case, a 55-year-old local resident reported to police on May 13 that a credit card had been opened in another name at her address.

"The victim reported that a credit card arrived at her residence for a male name she did not recognize," wrote police. "The victim is not out any money and there is no evidence of local criminal activity. The issuing bank, People’s United, has been advised on the incident."

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