East Boston siblings charged with ID scam, stealing $120k

By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

An East Boston brother and sister were arrested Thursday in their home, accused of using fake identities to steal more than $120,000 from auto auction houses across Massachusetts, the attorney general’s office said.

Amarildo Silva, 30, and Edna DaSilva, 24, pleaded not guilty in East Boston Municipal Court today to charges of possession of counterfeit notes, identity fraud, and forging registry, the attorney general’s office said. A judge ordered Silva to be held on $200,000 bail and DaSilva on $50,000 bail.

Silva allegedly wrote himself counterfeit checks in the names of various auto auctions in Lynn, Quincy, North Dighton, and Framingham with whom he had done business in the past, stealing more than $120,000, prosecutors allege.

When several of the banks caught on that some of his checks were fraudulent, they froze Silva’s accounts, and he allegedly enlisted his sister to open an account in the name of a fake landscaping company using a fake identity, according to the attorney general’s office.

The pair are due back in court in September.