Iselin Man Sentenced For Role In Identity Theft Scheme

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — An Iselin man was sentenced Tuesday for his role in what federal prosecutors are calling one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the Department of Justice, which involved 22 people who created more than 7,00 false identities.

Sat Verma, 65, of Iselin, previously pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to one year in prison alongside Qaiser Khan, 53, of Valley Stream, New York.

Khan and Verma were originally charged in February 2013 as part of a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. They are the last of 22 defendants to be sentenced in this scheme.

The scheme involved a three-step process in which the defendants would make up a false identity by creating fraudulent identification documents and a phony credit profile with the major credit bureaus; pump up the credit of the false identity by providing bogus information about that identity’s creditworthiness; then borrow or spend as much as they could without repaying the debts.

The scheme caused more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions.

Across the country, Verma, Khan and others maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.

Khan admitted he helped obtain credit cards in the name of third parties – many of which were fictional – then directed the credit cards to be mailed to addresses controlled by members of the conspiracy. He also admitted they knew the cards would be used fraudulently at businesses. Verma admitted he effected transactions with access devices issued to another person.

Verma was sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to forfeit $270,000 and fined $1,000.

Image via Morguefile