Thread: Chicago - Hollywood elite targeted in local credit card scam

Hollywood elite targeted in local credit card scam
May 7, 2010 8:07 PM | 1 Comment | UPDATED STORY
There's a first-floor apartment in the Armour Square neighborhood where actor Ben Stiller lived. Then David Duchovny moved in, as did Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis.

Well, maybe they didn't live there, but that's where their credit cards were being sent.

Then writer-directors Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver") and Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale") suddenly ordered new cards and asked them to be sent to the little apartment on the South Side.

So last month, at the bank's request, an undercover agent from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service hand delivered them.

Now this week Adedamola Olatunji, 29, a Nigerian-born man who allegedly used Stiller's card to run up charges on iTunes and an on-line dating service, was indicted on forgery, mail fraud, theft, aggravated identity theft, computer fraud and other felony charges.

Court records and a source familiar with the investigation said Citibank officials contacted the postal inspector's office early last month after the credit card accounts for Stiller, Duchovny and Haggis were compromised and replacement cards were delivered to Olatunji's address in the 2700 block of South Princeton Avenue.

After obtaining personal information on the victims, Olatunji allegedly called the bank to report a lost card and requested a new one be sent to the Princeton Avenue address. The source said investigators recovered personal information for Stiller and Haggis in the trash at Olatunji's residence.

The inspector's office, along with the Chicago Police, intercepted the replacement cards for Schrader and Baumbach, and on April 13 showed up at Olatunji's door. He allegedly identified himself as "Paul" and signed for both cards.

"He said Noah was in the back," the source said.

Olatunji allegedly told investigators he tried to purchase several thousand dollars worth of merchandise with the card to send to a friend in the United Kingdom, the source said. The scam is a way to work around companies' refusal to ship items to Nigeria and other countries where fraud is a big-time business.

"Obviously, the bank has some issues they've got to straighten out," the source said. "The guy calls up with a foreign accent and says: 'Hey, I'm Ben Stiller, I lost my card. Can you send me a new one?' Oh. Sure, why not?"

A representative for the bank was not immediately available for comment tonight.

--Matthew Walberg


http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010 ... -scam.html

Why do TV and the Movies seem so phony and unrealistic compared to real life now a days?