dude is a piece of shyt for messing with delivery drivers like this, I don't even know how you think up a scheme like this. I wonder how long he would have carried on doing this if he didn't assault his girl.
www.stamfordadvocate.com
STAMFORD — A city man was arrested last week in New York on accusations he stole nearly $1 million as a part of a multiyear scheme in which, police say, he stole the paychecks of more than 700 DoorDash employees.
David Smith, 21, of Stamford, was arrested last week in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on a fugitive of justice warrant stemming from Stamford on charges of first-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft, two counts of second-degree forgery, trafficking in personal identifying information and first-degree computer crime.
Stamford police investigators Michael Stempien and Vanessa Lynn wrote in an affidavit that Smith allegedly was running a sophisticated phishing scheme beginning in June 2020 in which he would call in a DoorDash order, usually in California, and have it sent to a nearby California address.
At a certain point during the delivery, Smith would call the DoorDash driver “using an app to mimic the DoorDash support number,” according to the affidavit.
“Smith would then impersonate DoorDash support and notify the driver via phone and text that the order they were about to pick up was placed with a stolen card and that they’ve frozen their DoorDash account as result of this,” Stempien and Lynn wrote. “Smith would tell the driver they would need to be verified in order to resolve this issue.”
Smith would then send a verification code or text a link containing a phishing site that he had created that mimicked the DoorDash website, according to affidavit.
“It was Smith’s goal to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s DoorDash account using either of these methods,” the affidavit said.
Once Smith gained access to their accounts, he would change that employee’s banking information to one of the payment cards in his possession, according to the affidavit.
“He would then trigger a cash out to that card and thus steal the victim’s delivery money that had been pooled in their account. He would explain to the victim that due to the delivery issue they wouldn’t be getting their paycheck on time and it would be several days late,” Stempien and Lynn wrote. “This would cause the victims a delay in realizing their paychecks had been stolen and hinder their ability to recover their funds.”
Based on banking information obtained by police, they believe Smith may have “successfully repeated this scam” on more than 700 DoorDash drivers, the affidavit said. Stempien and Lynn wrote in the affidavit that they believe Smith stole “in excess of $950,000” while perpetrating the scheme.
Police claimed in the affidavit that information found on Smith’s many cellphones corroborated the findings of their investigation.
Smith was arraigned at the state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday afternoon, where Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Nemec argued that the court-set $2 million bond on the 21-year-old was appropriate given the “incredibly disturbing” allegations in the case.
Attorney Karl Scully, who represents Smith, argued instead for a more “reasonable” bond, saying his client “denies the allegations” against him. He added that police have informed him that there could be more charges coming in the case.
Judge Vikki Cooper ultimately set Smith’s bond at $250,000, with the stipulation that it must be posted at the state Superior Court in Stamford following a hearing.
The case was transferred to the court’s Part A docket, where the district’s most serious cases are heard.
Smith is next scheduled to appear in court on July 6.
According to the arrest affidavit, police first began investigating Smith in January.
On Jan. 5, Stamford police responded to a Prospect Street apartment on reports of a domestic assault on a pregnant woman.
The woman who called 911 told police that a man she identified as Smith had held a gun during the alleged assault, the affidavit said. The woman later gave police consent to search the apartment where the alleged assault occurred.
While Smith was charged with third-degree assault on a pregnant person, risk of injury to a minor, second-degree strangulation, illegal possession of a high-capacity magazine, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree threatening and negligent storage of a firearm in connection to the domestic incident, what police discovered during the course of that investigation led them to a separate fraud investigation, according to police.
During the search for the firearm, which police said they eventually found, they also recovered 109 payment cards, only one of which was in Smith’s name; various California driver’s licenses, none of which belonged to Smith and “appeared to be forged;” and a “large amount of stacks of cash” totaling $52,410 in the apartment, police wrote in the affidavit.
“This then led to subsequent search warrants and the discovery of the fraud Smith was conducting,” Stempien and Lynn wrote in the warrant.
Police said in the affidavit that the licenses, payment cards and cash, along with five safes found at the apartment, were all seized as evidence in the investigation. One of the safes, which police said was left open, contained an additional $146,260, according to the affidavit.
After obtaining search warrants for the other four safes, police opened them and found Smith’s social security card, a title for a black Honda Accord, other documents related to the car and a total of $534,570 in cash.
In total, police seized $733,240 from Smith’s apartment, according to the warrant.
In an interview with police, Smith claimed he’d found the IDs and the payment cards “at an abandoned house but stated he never got to use them,” the affidavit said. Stempien and Lynn wrote that Smith later revised his claim and said he tried to withdraw money on the cards “but didn’t have the PINs.”
“Based on Smith’s statement it appears he was in contact with other unknown individuals who were coaching him on financial crimes and directing him to websites related to financial crimes,” Stempien and Lynn wrote.
Stamford man stole nearly $1 million in scheme targeting 700 DoorDash drivers, warrant says
A Stamford man is accused of stealing nearly $1 million in a multiyear scheme in which...
Stamford man stole nearly $1 million in scheme targeting 700 DoorDash drivers, warrant says
STAMFORD — A city man was arrested last week in New York on accusations he stole nearly $1 million as a part of a multiyear scheme in which, police say, he stole the paychecks of more than 700 DoorDash employees.
David Smith, 21, of Stamford, was arrested last week in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on a fugitive of justice warrant stemming from Stamford on charges of first-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft, two counts of second-degree forgery, trafficking in personal identifying information and first-degree computer crime.
Stamford police investigators Michael Stempien and Vanessa Lynn wrote in an affidavit that Smith allegedly was running a sophisticated phishing scheme beginning in June 2020 in which he would call in a DoorDash order, usually in California, and have it sent to a nearby California address.
At a certain point during the delivery, Smith would call the DoorDash driver “using an app to mimic the DoorDash support number,” according to the affidavit.
“Smith would then impersonate DoorDash support and notify the driver via phone and text that the order they were about to pick up was placed with a stolen card and that they’ve frozen their DoorDash account as result of this,” Stempien and Lynn wrote. “Smith would tell the driver they would need to be verified in order to resolve this issue.”
Smith would then send a verification code or text a link containing a phishing site that he had created that mimicked the DoorDash website, according to affidavit.
“It was Smith’s goal to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s DoorDash account using either of these methods,” the affidavit said.
Once Smith gained access to their accounts, he would change that employee’s banking information to one of the payment cards in his possession, according to the affidavit.
“He would then trigger a cash out to that card and thus steal the victim’s delivery money that had been pooled in their account. He would explain to the victim that due to the delivery issue they wouldn’t be getting their paycheck on time and it would be several days late,” Stempien and Lynn wrote. “This would cause the victims a delay in realizing their paychecks had been stolen and hinder their ability to recover their funds.”
Based on banking information obtained by police, they believe Smith may have “successfully repeated this scam” on more than 700 DoorDash drivers, the affidavit said. Stempien and Lynn wrote in the affidavit that they believe Smith stole “in excess of $950,000” while perpetrating the scheme.
Police claimed in the affidavit that information found on Smith’s many cellphones corroborated the findings of their investigation.
Smith was arraigned at the state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday afternoon, where Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Nemec argued that the court-set $2 million bond on the 21-year-old was appropriate given the “incredibly disturbing” allegations in the case.
Attorney Karl Scully, who represents Smith, argued instead for a more “reasonable” bond, saying his client “denies the allegations” against him. He added that police have informed him that there could be more charges coming in the case.
Judge Vikki Cooper ultimately set Smith’s bond at $250,000, with the stipulation that it must be posted at the state Superior Court in Stamford following a hearing.
The case was transferred to the court’s Part A docket, where the district’s most serious cases are heard.
Smith is next scheduled to appear in court on July 6.
According to the arrest affidavit, police first began investigating Smith in January.
On Jan. 5, Stamford police responded to a Prospect Street apartment on reports of a domestic assault on a pregnant woman.
The woman who called 911 told police that a man she identified as Smith had held a gun during the alleged assault, the affidavit said. The woman later gave police consent to search the apartment where the alleged assault occurred.
While Smith was charged with third-degree assault on a pregnant person, risk of injury to a minor, second-degree strangulation, illegal possession of a high-capacity magazine, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree threatening and negligent storage of a firearm in connection to the domestic incident, what police discovered during the course of that investigation led them to a separate fraud investigation, according to police.
During the search for the firearm, which police said they eventually found, they also recovered 109 payment cards, only one of which was in Smith’s name; various California driver’s licenses, none of which belonged to Smith and “appeared to be forged;” and a “large amount of stacks of cash” totaling $52,410 in the apartment, police wrote in the affidavit.
“This then led to subsequent search warrants and the discovery of the fraud Smith was conducting,” Stempien and Lynn wrote in the warrant.
Police said in the affidavit that the licenses, payment cards and cash, along with five safes found at the apartment, were all seized as evidence in the investigation. One of the safes, which police said was left open, contained an additional $146,260, according to the affidavit.
After obtaining search warrants for the other four safes, police opened them and found Smith’s social security card, a title for a black Honda Accord, other documents related to the car and a total of $534,570 in cash.
In total, police seized $733,240 from Smith’s apartment, according to the warrant.
In an interview with police, Smith claimed he’d found the IDs and the payment cards “at an abandoned house but stated he never got to use them,” the affidavit said. Stempien and Lynn wrote that Smith later revised his claim and said he tried to withdraw money on the cards “but didn’t have the PINs.”
“Based on Smith’s statement it appears he was in contact with other unknown individuals who were coaching him on financial crimes and directing him to websites related to financial crimes,” Stempien and Lynn wrote.
