Internet Fraud Ring Sends Brothers to Jail

Two brothers are prison in California after a tech-savvy police officer busted an Internet fraud ring.

San Jose police detective Mike Niehoff was tipped off when a suspicious man came to a San Jose man’s house to buy a computer using a PayPal account. Later that week, the PayPal account had been canceled, The San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday.

Niehoff — a veteran police officer on the high tech crimes unit — was given the case and was quickly able to trace back the suspicious transaction to Alvin Ma, 23, and Calvin Ma, 21. The Ma brothers had reportedly been taking advantage of Web sites like Craigslist, eBay and PayPal, using other identities they had allegedly stolen to buy goods online.

The brothers bought and sold computers and more than $50,000 worth of Xboxes and Rolexes.

Internet theft is often difficult to monitor because of the anonymity of the criminals and the lack of witnesses, the Mercury News said.

However, in the case of the Ma brothers, Niehoff was able to put together a case and the two are serving time at San Quentin State Prison.