By: Najla Alexander
Authorities in Atlantic County announced that they had charged Cory Kott, 35, of Mays Landing, on Thursday, May 29, with second-degree identity theft, second-degree computer crimes, third-degree forgery, third-degree credit card crime, third-degree theft by deception, and third-degree money laundering.
Additionally, Kott was charged with conspiracy to commit third-degree credit card fraud and conspiracy to commit theft by deception with Omar Lopez, 45, of Atlantic City, ACPO officials stated.
Atlantic County officials said Lopez was also charged with third-degree credit card crime and third-degree theft by deception. In 2023, the FBI Financial Crimes Task Force was notified of an ongoing nationwide fraud investigation.
Multiple victims across the United States reported being defrauded through a SIM swapping scheme, ACPO authorities said.
According to Atlantic County officials, an investigation revealed Cory Kott and Omar Lopez had allegedly targeted victims through social media and would begin conversations with victims in order to then take over the victims’ phones by transferring the victims’ phone numbers to devices in their possession.
Once that occurred, they would have complete control over the victims’ phones, including access to emails, financial applications, iCloud storage, and social media accounts, Atlantic County authorities say.
ACPO officials said the suspects would then use that access to impersonate the victims and open credit cards, falsify driver’s licenses, and complete banking transactions by transferring funds between victims and withdrawing those funds under the victims’ identities.
The suspects were also able to utilize at least one of the victim’s compromised credit cards to fund an online gaming account, Atlantic County officials said.