in which they tricked customers into sending a combined $1.3 million in payments for aircraft equipment that they never received, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
The fraudsters used phony websites advertising the sale of aircraft parts to lure businesses into wiring them money, officials said. More than 200 businesses purchased equipment from the websites over a five-year period and never received their orders, authorities said. The ringleader of the scheme, Antonio P. Signo, 36, of Somerset, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception. As part of the plea, he admitted that he orchestrated the conspiracy, created the websites, communicated with representatives from the victim companies and directed them to wire funds into bank accounts that he and his coconspirators controlled, prosecutors said.
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