Crime & Safety

Cops: Man Stole $7K by Forwarding Victim's Mail, Phone Calls

A Manhattan man was charged with identity theft for scheming to defraud a Five Towns man, cops said.

A Manhattan man bought more than $7,000 in gift cards and other items after he stole a Five Towns man's identity, according to Nassau County Police.

The 49-year-old victim became suspicious of the fraudster when he stopped receiving mail to his Woodmere home, cops said. He asked his mailman, who said his mail was scheduled to be forwarded to another address in Manhattan from July 5-19.

Nassau detectives discovered the victim's home phone number had been forwarded to a 917 area code and an unknown subject had opened a Capital One account in the victim's name, cops said. The subject also bought three Apple gift cards worth more than $5,000 and made a Bloomingdale's purchase of more than $2,000 using the victim's American Express account, police said.

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After an investigation with the United States Postal Service, police arrested Joshua Klarsfel, 42, of New York.

Klarsfel was charged with second-degree forgery, second-degree identity theft, and first-degree attempted identity theft. He will be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

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