Feds charge police inspector with accessing FBI database and using fake law firm to defraud victims
A New York City auxiliary police inspector is facing a federal criminal case, accused of hacking into department computers and accessing an FBI database to obtain information that enabled him to pose as an attorney seeking to help individuals with traffic accident claims.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn says Yehuda Katz, 45, used police officer names and passwords to run over 6,400 queries on the FBI database during a four-month period in 2014, reports Reuters.
He used the information to contact accident victims, claiming that he was an attorney with the “Katz and Katz law firm” and offering to represent them for a 14 percent contingency fee, says a written statement from U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch’s office. It isn’t clear whether he actually collected money and, if so, how much, the article notes.
Katz was charged with accessing a protected computer with intent to defraud.