Fraud and Identity Theft Lawyer in Phoenix, AZ

Inside the city, these reports go to the Phoenix Police Financial Crimes Detail. The department's page for the detail names identity theft, fraud schemes, forgery involving checks, credit cards and other documents, fraudulent use of a credit card, counterfeit documents and U.S. currency, and credit card skimmers among the crimes it takes. The same page sends merchants holding a check returned for insufficient funds or a closed account to the County Attorney instead of to its own detectives.

Many Phoenix identity theft cases are built from the reporting person's own paperwork. The department's identity theft packet asks that person to get a case report number online or through police, then collect creditor records, credit reports with the disputed accounts marked, a typed statement and a signed affidavit, and send them in through a secure upload link. The packet says no investigation starts until those documents arrive, tells people to submit them only if they want criminal charges, and warns that a victim will most likely have to testify if a suspect is arrested and the case goes to court. The accusation, in other words, can rest heavily on what one person gathered, highlighted and remembered.

Businesses report forged checks through a separate packet. The version we reviewed asks for one packet per check, a witness form from each employee involved, surveillance photos of the person who presented the item, and the original check. Check-cashing and payday loan stores are told to add a copy of photo identification, a fingerprint and a transaction photo. That material can point toward a person, and it can also show its limits: a blurry still, a print nobody compared, or a clerk who saw a customer briefly.

Bounced checks take another route. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office runs a Check Enforcement Program for checks returned for insufficient funds or a closed account, and lists it among the office's diversion programs. According to the program page, once a merchant has demanded payment and submitted the check, the office may act if there is enough evidence of a crime, and that action can include a criminal court summons or an arrest warrant. A letter from the program deserves a lawyer's read before you call the number on it.

Most of the charges on this page are felonies. Taking the identity of another under A.R.S. § 13-2008 is a class 4 felony even when nobody lost money, and forgery under A.R.S. § 13-2002 is a class 4 felony that includes offering a forged instrument whether or not anyone accepts it. The County Attorney charges most of these cases, and the Attorney General brings certain ones, often where the conduct spilled across county lines or a state agency handled the investigation. We handle these matters whichever office brought the charge. They are heard in Superior Court's downtown criminal complex (the Central Court Building at 201 W. Jefferson St. or the South Court Tower at 175 W. Madison St.). Confirm the building on your current notice. A case charged as a misdemeanor can instead be heard in Phoenix Municipal Court or a justice court, depending on the agency.

The detail's page also shows how a Phoenix fraud can leave state hands. It points cyber-crime victims to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and mail fraud to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and it sends Social Security number and tax preparer fraud to federal agencies too. A case that goes federal follows federal procedure and federal sentencing rules rather than Arizona's. Nova Law Group appears in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Fraud, forgery and identity theft convictions raise questions of trust, and employers in banking, health care, real estate and any job involving customer data tend to ask about them. A felony conviction makes a person a prohibited possessor under A.R.S. § 13-3101 until rights are restored, restitution for the full economic loss follows under § 13-603(C), and a computer tampering conviction adds forfeiture, under § 13-2316(C), of a computer or phone that the person owned or used exclusively and that was used in the offense. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen should get immigration advice before any plea.

The bank. Fraud departments often freeze an account and ask for an explanation before police are involved, and what you tell a bank investigator can be passed along to detectives. Get advice before giving a recorded or written account.

Hold everything as it is. Moving money, closing accounts, deleting messages or wiping a phone after you learn of an investigation can later be described as an effort to hide evidence. Keep records intact and let your lawyer decide what to provide and when.

The detective. A Financial Crimes detective may call, sometimes after a search warrant for a phone or an account has already been served. You can decline an interview and route every contact through counsel. We review any warrant for scope, because device and account searches can reach well beyond the accounts in question.

Who was at the keyboard. Shared devices, shared Wi-Fi, stolen phones, reused passwords and data breaches can make it hard to prove who used a card number or opened an account. Bank video, IP records and delivery addresses need to be checked against one another, not read one at a time.

Consent. Families, roommates and business partners share cards and logins all the time. Identity theft turns on whether the use was without consent, and computer tampering on whether someone acted without authority or past its limits, so the history of the arrangement can matter a great deal.

Charging and court. The County Attorney decides whether to charge and how, by direct complaint with a preliminary hearing or by grand jury indictment, and a summons to appear can take the place of an arrest. After a booking, the felony initial appearance happens at ITR on South 28th Drive, within the 24-hour limit set by Rule 4.1. The case then moves to the downtown Superior Court complex.

The numbers. Loss totals shape negotiations and restitution, and a $100,000 benefit decides probation eligibility on fraudulent schemes. We check for double counting, refunds, chargebacks and amounts never actually received.

Nova Law Group was built by Ryan Tait, a former Maricopa County Attorney's Office felony prosecutor. The practice is criminal defense first. We keep caseloads deliberately low, which means the lawyers on your case have time to actually watch the video and read the reports line by line. We take fraud cases to trial when trial is the right pressure. Overcharging happens, and a case that is genuinely prepared for trial changes the conversation with the prosecutor. Most criminal cases are quoted as a flat fee. Consultations are free and confidential.

Office: 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite C250, Phoenix, AZ 85018. Meetings are by appointment.