Stole From Pensioners
3 Arrested in TRS Identity Theft Scam

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is working with the Police Department's Identity Theft Unit to untangle an attempt at identity theft that originated within the New York City Teachers' Retirement System.

Law-enforcement officials said Jan. 11 that they were investigating what they believed to be a multi-person operation that stole TRS pensioners' personal information, such as Social Security and bank account numbers, as well as birth dates and secure passwords.

$42,000 Stolen

The New York Post reported Jan. 9 that the false information was used to take approximately $42,000 from seven pensioners. In addition, a TRS clerk who had worked at the fund for three years was arrested Dec. 15, and cops searching his Harlem apartment found agency checks totaling $359,000 made out to 19 pension members or their beneficiaries.

Prosecutors said Jerome Boyd, 27, had viewed the personal and financial information of some 5,800 pensioners during his time with the fund.

He has been charged with several counts of criminal possession of stolen property. He was also arrested in May 2003 for cocaine dealing and had been serving five years' probation at the time of his arrest last month.

Past Wasn't Checked

Normally employees of TRS are subjected to background checks, but Mr. Boyd, who was hired by a temp agency, was never given permanent status.

Sam Miller, a spokesman for the fund, said an investigation conducted by TRS and the NYPD revealed that accounts of a number of members had been affected. The NYPD arrested several others involved in the same scheme who were not TRS employees, he said.

Mr. Miller added that the fund had notified pensioners whose information it believes could have been compromised and that steps had been taken to "correct and protect any affected accounts."

The Teachers' pension fund currently manages more than $30 billion in assets for more than 150,000 employees and retirees of the Department of Education and the City University of New York.

Tied to Stolen Checks?

Prosecutors said it was unclear whether data was stolen from all of the accounts to which Mr. Boyd had access.

The scam started to come apart Dec. 1, when police arrested Antoine Lawton and Kevin Braxton, who allegedly had been working with a teller at Washington Mutual Bank to cash stolen checks. The men were arrested after they tried to coerce another teller into cashing their checks.

Det. Walter Burnes, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, said last week that the arrests of Mr. Lawton and Mr. Braxton led police to Mr. Boyd.

"The two men tried to cash stolen checks at several different banks, but the one common thread was that all the bank accounts were from TRS pensioners," he said. "So police started following that lead, and it led to Boyd."

Probe Continuing

Detective Burnes said the investigation is ongoing and that there's a possibility the identity-theft ring stretched beyond the three arrested men. He said detectives on the case had received several phone calls from other TRS members after the story broke and it was possible more details would emerge as the probe continued. He urged anyone who was robbed to report the theft, even if TRS had already restored the funds.

In a related story, the International Association of Fire Fighters recently posted a message on its Web site to all members telling them to be aware of a "phishing scam" targeting firefighters.

"The IAFF has been made aware that individuals claiming to represent the IAFF have contacted IAFF members regarding IAFF Financial Corporation programs and services. These individuals are requesting personal information that nationally recognized and respected authorized IAFF-FC service providers will never ask over the phone," said the message.

IAFF spokesman Jim McBride said the IAFF-FC program offers competitively priced investment options, top-notch education financing programs, home mortgage programs and insurance protection for IAFF affiliates and members all things that would require sensitive financial information, but that its service providers aren't allowed to call individuals unless an IAFF member has expressed interest in the program.

"As far as we know, there haven't been any calls targeting firefighters in New York," he said. "But we have alerted all our members that they should not give out such personal information on unsolicited phone calls."