Scammers can be found anywhere. I didn’t show you how some letters and writings I’ve received that I know are false but could easily entice someone who is credulous or has let their guard down. Therefore, it’s always good to see a cheater receive their reward.
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Because this con artist was given a roughly four-year prison sentence, this scammer’s tale is exciting. According to The Daily News:
Thomas Sfraga, 56, a crypto expert known as” T. J.,” gained some internet popularity. Stone, who defrauded 14 investors out of$ 1.5 million, was given a three-year, nine-month prison sentence in Brooklyn Federal Court on Thursday.
From 2019 to 2022, he used a variety of tactics, including using their money to renovate their homes, promising to buy them into a significant construction contract, and getting them to use their money to buy a “virtual wallet” ( cryptocurrencies ) to make purchases.
Sfraga otherwise was filling his pockets and using some of the funds from afterwards investors to pay his former victims. Since three more victims have come forward after his May guilty plea to a wire fraud charge, the authorities believe he may have stolen closer to$ 2 million.
However, this account has a brilliant twist. Sfraga used a business name that would be comfortable to supporters of 90s shows and may ring a bell to New Yorkers.
He gave his business, Vandelay Construction Corp., a title that appears frequently on” Seinfeld” for the uninitiated. In the first time, Jerry and George play out the business building of a person who they are interested in, using the excuse that they are awaiting meal with the fabricated” Art Vandelay.”
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Yet though he hasn’t been looking for a job in the next year, George is trying to get an improvement on his employment benefits. So he gives Jerry the employment counselor his address and phone number and says that he applied for a career with” Vandelay Industries.” Obviously, everything goes bad.
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Because he conned people he knew, Sfraga was a particularly harsh scam.
According to federal prosecutors,” Sfraga stole from a wide range of subjects that came into his life: he targeted companions and next-door relatives, the parents of his boy’s sports teams, his child’s football coach, grade school acquaintances, people he met at crypto events, and a married couple looking to invest some of the cash they’d gotten as gifts,” reports the Daily News.
Tommy, please remember me. Yes, one victim said to Sfraga in court. We were close neighbors next door. Our neighbors, literally right next door, would bring us barbecue together. I would watch his kids play soccer. He attended the wedding of my son.
Another victim of Sfraga’s conned out of$ 100, 000 in wedding gift money, claimed that losing this money has” not only affected my finances but also has put strain on my marriage.” We have a 2-year-old son in our basement apartment, but because we are constantly concerned about our living conditions, we are unable to expand our family right now because we cannot afford it.
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Sfraga vowed to “eachwaking moment of my existence on redemption” whenever he encountered it.
He apologized for stoking the trust and faith that had been given to me. I’m sorry for turning a group of friends I love so dearly into a list of victims who hate me so much.
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