State charges man with high-end scam - Philadelphia News

WYNNEFIELD HEIGHTS - December 10, 2008 State Police say 37-year-old Mark Green of the 600 block of West Rittenhouse was the mastermind behind a sophisticated identity theft ring.

Green had nothing to say as to Action News as he was taken away by state police officers to the custody of the feds who have charged him with other similar crimes.

State Police say Green was so good, he and his cohorts managed to get possession of wallets and purses and steal the identities of at least 20 people across the tri-state area, using their information to create authentic looking Pennsylvania driver licenses with other people's pictures.

"We believe these driver licenses were used to create false identities in which to register vehicles and open credit accounts," Anthony Gant of the Pennsylvania State Police said.

After purchasing high-end vehicles like Escalades, Landrovers and Mercedes, police say they conned PennDOT into removing liens from the automobiles so they could get clear titles.

"Liens were removed from vehicles PennDOT records and the vehicles were eventually sold on the street for profit," Gant said.

In addition to a number of finance companies who were left holding the bag, Kathleen Jordan was among those whose identity was stolen.

"Right almost immediately, they started using the charge cards. They took a couple ot the checks, I run some non-profit organizations, so I had some checks and cards for them as well and they ran up the bills on all of them," Jordan said.

Police say the pictures on fake drivers' licenses and a fake Temple faculty badge may be those of Green's cohorts in the sophisticated high-end scam.

They are also deeply concerned of how someone was able to dupe PennDOT into removing liens and create authentic looking driver licenses.

"State Police and other law enforcement agencies consider this a Homeland Security issue because of the easy accessibility of counterfeit driver licenses," Gant said.

PennDOT is now said to be working on the problems to avoid these fraudulent acts in the future.

If you recognize the people in those fake ID's you're being asked to call State Police at 215-560-6200.

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