Migrant moped gang hired hacker to breach banking apps as NYPD reveals new details about ‘sophisticated’ high-tech crime ring
A group of moped-riding migrants terrorizing New Yorkers – including one Uber Eats driver – used a hacker to breach bank accounts and make purchases at stores like Home Depot, cops revealed as they shared new details on the “sophisticated” high-tech crime ring.
The crew — and others like it — include people from several nations, including Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
“There’s not a Venezuelan shelter, there’s not a Mexican shelter,” he said. “They’re all brought in together, along with other groups as well.”
But the Venezuelan-led gangs — including the suspected crooks busted yesterday, who were directed by a Venezuelan migrant named Victor Parra, 30, of the Bronx — tend to be more organized, Kenny said.
“Like you saw with yesterday’s [robbery ring bust] — where the proceeds are being shipped to Miami, Houston and eventually Colombia — they’re a little more sophisticated in that they’re hacking into the phones, stealing people’s banking records,” Kenny said.
“They’re getting into their Venmo, they’re getting into their Zelle accounts and they’re using that money to make purchases,” he continued. “They’ll clear out the accounts, and then they make purchases … at Home Depot, or [they make] money transfers to other accounts, or cash.”
Once they’ve exhausted the accounts, they ship the phone overseas to be sold, he added.
One alleged member of the moped gang, 19-year-old Cleyber Andrade, was arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court and held on $10,000 bail after he was connected by cops with the wider ring that has been fingered for 62 different instances of grand larceny across the Big Apple since November.
That includes a shocking, caught-on-video heist in which a 62-year-old woman was brutally dragged down a Brooklyn street just three days after Christmas, police sources told The Post.
The thieves made off with the woman’s bag, keys, phone, credit cards, and glasses — all while she careened through the air and slammed into a metal bike rack.
The video highlighted the gang’s vicious tactics, which they used to snatch people’s purses, phones and other belongings by any means necessary, according to cops and sources.
Authorities on Monday busted Andrade and alleged accomplice Juan Uzcatgui, 23, who was also arraigned Tuesday night.
Both were charged individually Saturday with grand larceny for stealing a moped, resisting arrest, and stolen property offenses.
Andrade allegedly admitted to investigators he rode a moped when he took part in five phone thefts on Jan. 5, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Kania said in court.
Kania also referenced how Andrade on Oct. 7 used a saw to buzz through a chain lock in order to steal a moped — that was already reported stolen — in Queens.
He was charged and arraigned the next day with possession of burglar’s tools, 5th degree criminal possession of stolen property and attempted petit larceny by the Queens district attorney’s office, the Manhattan prosecutor said.
“Although the defendant does not have any criminal convictions, he now stands charged with six serious felonies and six class A misdemeanors. He was additionally arrested in Queens this past weekend,” the prosecutor said when successfully requesting bail based on the “harm-to-harm” theory, in which an identifiable person or property is impacted by the alleged crime.
But Andrade’s defense lawyer said his client was a family man who has worked for Uber Eats for the last year and the sole household income earner.
“We ask you release Mr. Andrade on recognizance because this case is not bail eligible because the underlying case does not involve identifiable harm to any person or property,” attorney Alex Garber argued to no avail.
Meanwhile, Uzcatgui was granted supervised release by a Manhattan judge because of bail reform laws — but remained in custody because of a warrant based in Queens.
He allegedly fessed up to phone thefts on Dec. 21 and Dec. 23 of last, Kania said, noting evidence shows he was also involved in another theft on Dec. 29.
“If this was eligible for bail, I would strongly consider it,” Judge Melissa Smith said. “But under the statute I may not. All I’m permitted to do is place the defendant on supervised release which is what I’m going to do.”
Cops are looking to arrest Parra, the alleged ringleader, but that hasn’t happened yet, sources said.
Cops have also identified six other people connected to the ring: Yan Jimenez, 25, of Manhattan; Anthony Ramos, 21, of Manhattan; Richard Saledo, 21, of the Bronx; Beike Jimenez, 21, of the Bronx; Maria Manaura, 32, of Manhattan; and Samuel Castro, 27, of Queens, according to sources.
Parra’s operation was allegedly a well-oiled machine, with the ringleader blasting out texts on WhatsApp describing what kind of phone he was looking for, then telling his henchmen to “go get’em.”
Scooter drivers allegedly made $100 a day, and the actual phone snatcher could make $300 to $600 per stolen device, according to cops.
The robbery ring — and others like it — worry law enforcement specifically because the migrants often have multiple aliases and swap identities and birthdays, turning them into so-called “ghost perps” who become very hard to track, sources said.
