RI Man Arrested for Running Identity Fraud Scam Through Cox Communications Totaling Over $28K
Tuesday, March 03, 2020
The Rhode Island State Police arrested a Pawtucket man who was allegedly involved in a large scale identity fraud scam through Cox Communications totaling over $28,000.
Samuel Mate, 35, was charged with five counts of identity fraud and 22 counts of wrongfully obtains telecommunications services.
The Arrest
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAccording to the RI State Police, in 2018, members of the Major Crimes Unit and the Lincoln Woods Barracks initiated an investigation into a large-scale identity fraud scam reported by Cox Communications Security Team.
During the course of this investigation, members of the Major Crimes Unit allege that Mate stole the identities of various individuals throughout the United States and used these identities to open fraudulent Cox Communication accounts throughout Rhode Island.
According to State Police, Mate would then receive a cash payment for creating the fraudulent Cox Communication service.
As a result of this scam, individuals whose identifications were stolen and fraudulently used to open these accounts were left with large unpaid bills.
In 2017, Mate was convicted of identity fraud and obtaining money under false pretenses after a similar investigation by the Rhode Island State Police Major Crimes Unit.
During this investigation, Mate set up over 100 fraudulent accounts with Cox Communications where he utilized multiple different stolen identities resulting in a loss of over $96,000 to Cox Communications.
Possible Penalty
According to RI State Police, every person who commits identity fraud may be imprisoned for not less than three (3) years nor more than five (5) years and shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both, for a second conviction.
Any person who commits the theft of communication services shall be fined not more than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000), or by imprisonment for not more than five (5) years, or both.
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