Newark Woman Allegedly Targeted Elderly in Identity Theft Scam

A 39-year-old Newark woman was arrested Tuesday after allegedly tricking several elderly women into providing personal information and using the data to open fraudulent credit card accounts, US Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

For nearly a year,  from April 2012 until last month, Terrell Brunson combed phone directories searching for first names common among senior citizens, such as “Ruth.” Brunson then called the women while posing as a credit card company employee and requested information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth. Brunson then called credit card companies and used the information she obtained to open new credit card accounts or to add herself as an authorized user of her victim’s accounts.

In one instance, Brunson is believed to have called her victim while pretending to be an employee of MasterCard inquiring about a $400 charge at a Walmart store. When the victim told Brunson the charge was phony, Brunson then asked for personal information for verification purposes. She later used that information to open two new credit card accounts and to access one of her victim’s existing accounts to make thousands of dollars in purchases.

Brunson pleaded guilty to a similar crime in 2009 and was on parole at the time of her latest arrest.