Boston...A Cambridge man was charged today in federal court with using the stolen identity information of five individuals in an attempt to raid the college savings accounts they had created for their beneficiaries.
Mohammed Gisan, 26, was charged in an Information with five counts of identity theft. It is alleged that Gisan worked as a temporary employee at Upromise Investments, Inc. from October to May 2011, and used his access to the company’s records to obtain and remove personal information about customers who had established college savings accounts. Immediately after Gisan’s assignment at Upromise was terminated, in May 2011, he used the personal information he had previously obtained to configure five of these accounts for Internet access. It is further alleged that Gisan intended to then use the Internet access to steal the funds in these accounts, which totaled $965,274. He was prevented from completing his plan due to loss prevention measures taken by Sallie Mae, the parent company of Upromise.
If convicted, Gisan faces up to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each count.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Steven Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service; and Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Harman Burkart of Ortiz’s Cybercrimes Unit.
The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
