Boonton Twp. cops track alleged credit card fraud to Ghana

Boonton Township police have cracked what they believe was a credit card fraud operation between two Essex County residents and international contacts in Ghana.

Township detectives, led by Detective Peter A. Ricciardi, spent the past 14 months pursuing a case that started with a homeowner’s report in mid-June 2014 about the fraudulent use of her credit card.

The investigation has resulted in the arrests of Emmanuel G. Duker-Eshun, 22, of Cottage Street, South Orange, on Aug. 26, and of Dominic Eshun, 30, of Stuyvesant Avenue, Irvington, this past Monday. The men have the same last name but are not related, said Sgt. Thomas Cacciabeve.

Both men are charged with fencing and conspiracy to receive stolen property. Duker-Eshun was additionally charged with attempted theft of moveable property. Bail was set on both suspects at $20,000.

The probe began around June 17, 2014 when a township resident reported that her credit card was fraudulently used to make more than $700 worth of purchases over the Internet.

Among the purchases were Virgin Mobile Galaxy S3 cellular telephones. The policy of most phone carriers is that cellular phones can only be shipped to the purchaser’s billing address, said Cacciabeve.

The day after the homeowner filed her report about the credit card use, she received a shipment of cell phones to her residence. The phones were turned over to police. Later that day, the homeowner reported that a stranger showed up at her house and demanded the package that had earlier been delivered and then given to police, Cacciabeve said in a release.

The homeowner called police but she had a brief confrontation with the stranger before he fled in a vehicle occupied by another person prior to the arrival of police.

Detectives began trying to determine the stranger’s identity and were able to track several fraudulent purchases that had been shipped to various locations while addressed to fictitious names. Police, ultimately, were able to locate a potential address for the Irvington suspect, and from there were able to identify the suspects as Dominic Eshun and Emmanuel Duker-Eshun, Cacciabeve said.

Continuing to pursue the case, police learned that the stolen credit card numbers were possibly being obtained from a contact in Ghana.

“According to information later provided by the suspects, a party in Ghana would provide them with the stolen credit card information and instruct them to make fraudulent Internet purchases with them. The suspects then conspired to ship the illegally-obtained merchandise overseas to Ghana for various forms of compensation,” Cacciabeve’s release said.

The sergeant said detectives believe the tradeoff between the Eshuns and Ghana contact is that the Eshuns could keep some of the merchandise allegedly purchased over the Internet with stolen credit card numbers.

“They went the distance,” Cacciabeve said of detectives involved in the case.

The fencing counts charge the pair with trafficking in stolen property and then plotting to ship the merchandise out of the United States in exchange for compensation.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.