The trial starts Thursday of a down-on-his-luck businessman Norman Glass, who stole another man’s identity and made millions selling his victim’s assets to unsuspecting buyers.

About six months ago Glass cooked up a get-rich-quick scheme after hearing about an American living in the UK, who owned a building lot as well as an apartment on 14^th Street. He began by assuming the identity of the property owner, a man named Kalev. Glass grew a beard and acquired a cane, a cap and the gait of a man 26 years his senior. He then created the documents that would enable Glass to present himself as Kalev. He began spending time outside the latter’s apartment building, where he collected Kalev’s mail and absorbed whatever information he could find. He used a computer to create a high-quality forgery of Kalev’s official identity card using Kalev’s personal information and his own photograph.

 

Next, according to Glass’s charge sheet, he placed an advertisement for Kalev’s apartment on an online classified-ads site, for $450,000. He also listed the lot with real estate agents and asked a prominent law firm to help him dispose of the property. At that point Glass also announced that he also had an apartment he wanted to sell. A man who is identified in Glass’s indictment only as D went for the bait. He was nearing retirement after working for the past 40 years at an engineering company where he was on the staff of a missile project. D and his wife met Glass at the upscale law office. There, in the presence of attorneys and real estate agents, a contract was signed. No one knew that Glass was not Kalev, the property’s real owner.

 

D agreed to give Glass 90 percent of the payment as soon as the property deed was assigned to him, and to pay the balance after the property development fees were paid.

The next day, Glass went alone to the Registry Office, carrying Kalev’s ID card and copies of the notarial seals used the previous day on the deed of sale: Glass had had them duplicated at a stationery store. No one at the registry office questioned his credentials, and he registered the lot to D and his wife. Afterward, as promised, D paid Glass from his retirement savings, in cash.

 

A week or so later, as D waited for Glass to call and tell him the sale was completed, the near-retiree instead got a call from Superintendent Ross of the police fraud unit. Ross summoned D and his wife to unit headquarters where he told them: "We think you are victims of a sting. You purchased a lot from a con artist who impersonated Kalev," Ross explained. In addition, the real Kalev filed a police complaint over the theft of the property. D and his wife were overwhelmed. "I felt as if my world had crashed around me. After 40 years of work, that was all the money I had and suddenly they tell me I’m left with nothing. They asked me to point out the man in the picture and all at once many things became clear. I am simply lost," said D.

 

Glass, the police say, made one fatal error in his perfect sting: Somehow, one of the documents he gave the lawyers contained his real name. Fraud squad detectives created a sting of their own, stringing him along and arranging for a meeting at the law office, where he was arrested. In a search of Glass’s home after his arrest, police officers found the cap, the cane and eyeglasses he wore to the contract-signing at the lawyers’ office.

Glass denied any connection to the affair and claimed that someone framed him. The police have not found the money that D paid Glass, who owns no property that could be seized in order to repay D.

 

Whatever you do in or with the bank costs you money, from talking to a teller to withdrawing a large amount of cash. Agreed they are all petty charges but add them up and you will see the big picture. Even getting your statement printed on a sheet of paper costs you these days. Sometimes I think the bank has forgotten that it is in business because its customers keep their cash there!

 

Thinking up new fees is the bank’s money-raising strategy which brings in an estimated $12 billion a year. Yep, the banks are having a rough time but that doesn’t mean that you have to pay for it. Bank fees are here to stay, but here’s how to avoid some of them:

 

A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that disclosure documents averaged 111 pages long. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being pressed to require banks to publish a one-page disclosure of all fees. But do your best to understand what you’re up against, you can only fight things you know about.

 

A big demand may come with direct deposit. "Often, something as simple as having direct deposit of your paycheck or Social Security payment is enough to get monthly maintenance fees waived." But often you’ve got to ask for the waiver, it won’t be offered automatically.

 

Customers who are likely to be rewarded with waived fees are those with multiple accounts, such as checking, savings, a credit card, mortgage or car loan, in other words, the more business you do with your bank, the more leverage you have in staving off fees.

 

Some banks allow you, at no charge, to get email or text message alerts of balances. This can help you avoid fees for overdrafts and minimum balances. This service generally isn’t offered, however, unless you request it. Some online money management sites also provide such alerts.

 

If you have an interest-earning checking account, you may pay an average of $14 a month in fees unless you keep a balance in the thousands, according to a recent study by Bankrate.com. But on non-interest checking accounts, the monthly fee averages less than $5 a month, waived with a balance of $585. To save on fees, consider a non-interest account.

 

In September the Bank of America announced plans to impose a $5-per-month fee for the privilege of using their debit cards. About 700,000 people moved their accounts to lower-fee credit unions. In November the $5 fee was dropped. So if you’re considering a move this might be the time to politely remind your big bank that it isn’t the only game in town. New customers take note: Some banks now levy fees for closing accounts opened within the previous 90 or 180 days.

 

Online banks such as Ally, ING Direct and EverBank have lower overhead than brick-and-mortar banks, which can mean lower fees. Banking online with your current institution also may help you avoid increasingly common charges for paper statements.