Nassau Woman Sentenced For Stealing Hundreds Of Identities

Freeport resident Seerojnie Ram was sentenced to up to three years in jail on Wednesday for stealing the identities of hundreds of people across the country.

Ram, who also goes by Seerojnie Mohan, 50, will also have to pay $52,498 in restitution to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, as well as $32,468 to the IRS.

"This defendant paid for cruises, gambling sprees, and a BMW with money she scammed by filing bogus tax returns with stolen identities, and today’s sentence holds her accountable," said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. "With millions of Americans’ financial information recently compromised by data breaches, we have redoubled our commitment to investigate and prosecute identity theft in Nassau County and I strongly encourage everyone to take increased precautions to protect themselves from being victimized by scammers."

Between Oct. 1, 2013 and May 13, 2015, Ram fraudulently submitted more than 200 personal income tax returns for the tax years of 2013 and 2014 electronically to the IRS Service and the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

Ram used the names and Social Security numbers of approximately 250 people to file fraudulent tax returns and stole thousands of dollars in income tax refunds.

As part of the scheme, Ram obtained identities – including those of disabled people and the deceased – and filed forged US Postal Service Change of Address forms or IRS Change of Address forms in order to change the addresses of hundreds of individuals to addresses under her control.

To accept direct deposit of refunds from the IRS, Ram set up Green Dot pre-paid credit card accounts in several states, including New York.

Records show that Ram spent money obtained through this scheme for trips to Atlantic City, on cruises and to furnish her home. She often used postal money orders to conceal money flow — for example, paying the lease on her 2015 BMW X6. Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars of money being moved through her accounts, Ram filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and even received Medicaid benefits.

Inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service discovered the scheme when it became known that mail in the name of many different people was being sent to the same address. The USPS then referred the case to the DA’s office for investigation. DA investigators and US Postal Inspectors investigated the case, with the assistance of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Photo: District Attorney's Office