ALBANY — A Dutchess County man is facing felony charges for allegedly defrauding trucking and insurance companies in a scheme federal prosecutors said was “virtually identical” to one that sent him to prison in 2012.
Michael McMahon, 69, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of mail fraud in connection with what federal prosecutors described as a five-year scheme involving fake claims for crashes that never occurred. The alleged scheme netted the Poughkeepsie resident an estimated $400,000 over five years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.
Prosecutors said McMahon would park a vehicle along roadsides and wait for tractor-trailers to drive past. He would then allegedly falsely say the trucks had sideswiped his vehicle, claiming mirrors or other parts were damaged and submitting fraudulent claims with photos to trucking companies and…
Cyber fraud uses technology as the primary weapon. It is highly scalable and can be conducted from anywhere in the world.
- Phishing/Smishing/Vishing: Using deceptive emails (phishing), text messages (smishing), or phone calls (vishing) to trick victims into clicking malicious links or revealing sensitive data.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): A high-value scam where a criminal impersonates a CEO or high-level executive via a “spoofed” email address to trick a staff member into making an urgent, unauthorized wire transfer.