Detective: Wire-fraud scam isn’t widespread

Friday, July 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The Metro Police detective investigating a wire-fraud scam against local casinos doesn't believe it poses a widespread threat to the gaming industry.

"We've notified casino security departments around town, but we don't think this is something that's going to happen very often," said Detective Gary Sayre, a forgery investigator.

"It takes a certain amount of specialized knowledge to accomplish something like this, and that's not a common thing," he said. "We think it's limited to this one individual and perhaps some associates of his."

Sayre was referring to Darryl Rosenblatt, a 26-year-old California native arrested on charges of burglary and obtaining money under false pretenses.

Sayre said Rosenblatt "or someone associated with him" made telephone calls to at least two Las Vegas casinos and claimed to be a Bank of America employee.

"The caller would say something like, 'I'm with B of A's wire-services department and we've received a wire from such-and-such a bank in New York. We're going to credit your casino with $12,000 in the name of a client named Darryl Rosenblatt. Our computer is down right now, but I'm calling to verify the wire transfer is valid.' "

Sayre said the caller reached the appropriate casino employee and gave the proper codes that indicated the call was indeed from a bank wire official.

"The individual who made the phone calls was knowledgeable about the accounting language and who he would have to advise of the wired funds," Sayre said.

When Rosenblatt showed up at the two casinos, he was able to withdraw $12,000 from each, Sayre said. "When they issued the money, they believed they'd be reimbursed for it by the bank."

He said it's possible more than two casinos were targeted.