A man from Yonkers, New York, has pleaded guilty to charges related to a fraudulent tax refund check scheme that used the stolen identity of an investment company executive.
In a statement, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that in December 2023, Steven Ware opened bank accounts at a credit union in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, under the name of a Connecticut-based investment company and one of its executives.
-->Ware assumed the identity of the executive by submitting the man’s full name, date of birth, Social Security number and related documents. He then deposited a check issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury payable to the investment company and the executive for $810,337.
The check cleared, and Ware used a debit card to withdraw the funds from the account. He subsequently used the money to buy goods at various retailers in New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
He continued impersonating the executive and returned to the credit union several times over the next days and weeks to wire more than $634,000 of the stolen funds.
Ware was arrested and charged in September 2024 and indicted in October 2024. The IRS says that he pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in a Boston federal court on July 24th. His sentencing is set for October 8th.
