Long Island Woman Pleads Guilty to Operating Credit Card Fraud Scheme

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LISA REID, 45, of Amityville, New York, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to fraud and identity theft offenses stemming from a credit card fraud scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between February 2015 and January 2017, REID was involved in a scheme to defraud credit card companies and their customers by fraudulently taking over credit card accounts and, using those accounts, making unauthorized purchases from high-end retailers.

Specifically, REID used publicly available information to obtain phone numbers for wealthy senior citizens.  She then called her victims pretending to be a representative of a credit card company and claiming that the company needed information about the victim’s account.  The victims then provided REID with their account information, including credit card numbers and passwords.  REID then contacted the credit card company, pretending to be the victim.  After providing all of the requested security information, she added a new phone number and address to the account.  The address was typically an abandoned or foreclosed property near her home in New York.  REID then used the compromised credit card accounts to order merchandise from high-end retailers and had the merchandise shipped to an address that she had previously added to the credit card account.  After REID, or a “runner,” retrieved the merchandise, she sold it at a pawnshop or to another individual.

Through this scheme, REID stole the identities of more than 50 individuals and used their credit card information to purchase more than $1 million in merchandise.  Victim credit card companies successfully thwarted approximately $3.8 million worth of REID’s attempted purchases. 

REID pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of aggravated identity theft, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of two years.  A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

REID has been detained since her arrest on February 5, 2017.

In October 2010, REID was convicted in the Eastern District of Kentucky of federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft offenses, and was sentenced to 27 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release.  The convictions stemmed from a similar credit card takeover scheme that also defrauded victims of approximately $1 million.

REID, who was on supervised release while engaged in her most recent criminal conduct, faces an additional term of imprisonment if she is found to have violated the conditions of her supervised release.

This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Greenwich Police Department and Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, which also includes the U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, Connecticut State Police and the Shelton, Stamford, Hartford, and Norwalk Police Departments.  The U.S. Marshals Service has assisted the investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Pierpont, Jr.