United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

STAMFORD WOMAN SENTENCED FOR HER ROLE IN INTERNET FRAUD SCHEME

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JENNIFER FORCELLINA, age 21, of 28 Summit Place, Stamford, Connecticut, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to three years of probation and six months of home confinement with electric monitoring for her role in an internet fraud scheme. Chief Judge Chatigny also ordered FORCELLINA to pay $48,570 in restitution.

During court proceedings today, the Government stated that Randall Forcellina, the husband of JENNIFER FORCELLINA, accessed internet chat rooms using a computer and used a device to capture the screen-names of the individuals participating in the chat room. He subsequently sent electronic mail messages to the participants falsely representing that the email message was from an Internet Service Provider and falsely informing the recipient of the email message that the recipient's billing information was incorrect and requesting current personal identification information and financial information, including a current credit card account number. Randall Forcellina then created an email account to receive responses to the email message that he previously forwarded. He accessed the email account and retrieved the information provided. In some cases, Randall Forcellina subsequently obtained additional publicly available information about an individual using the internet. Randall Forcellina telephoned Western Union and, using the credit card account number and other personal information obtained as a result of the scheme, requested that Western Union transfer money to various locations in Connecticut and New York. Randall Forcellina and JENNIFER FORCELLINA then requested other individuals to pick up the money from the Western Union locations in exchange for a portion of the proceeds obtained. The defendants referred to this scheme as "doing a wu."

The Government informed the court that it believed approximately $48,000 was obtained as a result of the scheme, while another $58,000 in fraudulent Western Union transfers was unsuccessfully attempted.

JENNIFER FORCELLINA pleaded guilty on Septemeber 11, 2003. On August 13, 2003, Phillip Lagana, age 26, of 296 Main Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut, pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme. On February 17, 2004, Randall Forcellina also pleaded guilty. Lagana and Randall Forcellina are detained and awaiting sentencing. The three individuals, and Anthony Fillippone, were charged in a one-count Indictment on May 15, 2003. Fillippone has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is awaiting trial. U.S. Attorney O'Connor stressed that Fillippone is entitled to a fair trial at which it is the Government's burden to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Norwalk Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James J. Finnerty

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov