NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Two Brooklyn moving company employees were convicted on Monday for conspiracy to commit wire fraud after being involved in a three-year scheme to charge customers with fraudulent fees, prosecutors said.
Kristy Mak, 34, and Andre Prince, 45, were each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the sole count of a superseding indictment, in connection with their participation in a fraudulent moving company scheme.
The scheme, operating from January 2017 to August 2020, was orchestrated by employees of several moving companies controlled by Yakov Moroz, who is currently a fugitive. These companies, including Great Moving USA, Green Movers, New City Moves, Cross Country Moving and Storage, and Movers Consulting, operated under various names.
Mak worked as a customer service representative for the company and supervised Prince, who worked on the sales team.
They attracted customers using fake online reviews and low-cost moving offers, investigations revealed. However, after a contract was signed or, in some cases, customers' belongings loaded onto trucks, unexpected and exorbitant fees were imposed.
Once confronted with the unexpected fees, customers would be unable to reach the sales associates. Drivers would then threaten to hold the customers' goods hostage unless they paid these additional fees, often double or triple the original estimate, prosecutors said.
"The jury found that these defendants conspired in a despicable scheme to steal from their victims when they were most vulnerable and at the mercy of crooked movers holding their worldly possessions hostage," Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said. "No person who contracts for moving services should be exploited in this manner. Make no mistake, this was not a disagreement over billing, rather the jury found the defendants were part of a cunning and deliberate scheme to defraud customers and were held accountable."
The investigation revealed Slack messages indicated disregard for the customers, with Mak stating in a conversation about revising orders for more money, "we will f*ck [customers] onsite."
The scheme wrongfully obtained more than $3 million from over 800 victims, prosecutors said.
When sentenced, Mak and Prince, from Florida, each face up to 20 years in prison and forfeiture in the amount to be determined by the Court.
