Nothing brings a couple together like the mutual violation of identity theft.

Husband and wife, Max and Valerie Groysman, have a thick folder filled with bills, letters, and bank statements from years of rigorously recording all of their financial transactions to fend off continuous attempts to steal their identities.

Ten years ago, Valerie Groysman started getting bank statements for credit cards she never applied for. She switched banks and the problem was resolved. When Washington Mutual, her new bank, merged with Chase, her old bank, it started all over again. This time, a thief was able to buy a $5000 watch.

They now constantly check their bank accounts.

“It’s frustrating,” said Max Groysman. “I shouldn’t have to do this.”

The couple’s story was one of many used to illustrate financial scams running rampant in the city at a press conference at the U.S. Customs House today by the Federal Trade Commission, and other consumer protection organizations to kick off National Consumer Week.

The groups released an analysis of consumer complaints, with identity theft, aggressive debt collection agencies, and pricey financial services topping the lists.

“Fraud is one sector of the economy that never seems to suffer from recession,” said Leonard Gordon, regional director of the Northeast Region Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC received 70,360 consumer fraud complaints in New York State. The recession has left consumers desperate for a way to stop the hemorrhaging of their bank accounts and foreclosure on their homes.

Claire Rosenzweig, president Better Business Bureau, said most complaints concerned financial services, mainly problems with third-party debt collectors and loan-modification agencies.

Geraldine Fequine, a Brooklyn resident, received letter after letter from an agency, Modification of America, about restructuring her mortgage after she was denied refinancing from her bank.

She contacted the agency and a representative made a late night visit to her home and pressured her to pay a fee for the service. She later found a $2000 charge to her credit cards. She was able to get back half of the payment but still hasn’t been able to get a full refund.

Recent increases in credit card fees and charges sparked a 90 percent spike in credit card-related complaints in 2009, according to the Bureau. There were also more complaints about work-at-home scams.

Gordon suggested consumers avoid giving personal information over the phone and online. He urged people to thoroughly check their bank statements and beware of quick-fix scams that seem too good to be true.

Former State Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who was ousted from his seat after he was accused of cutting his girlfriend, yesterday launched his campaign to recapture the seat by focusing on the problem of increased violence in his home borough of Queens.

Spotlighting the need for more police patrols Monserrate focused on a recent alleged stabbing by Pedro Tzes, 48, of his companion Jacqueline Davis who was in critical condition in Jamaica Hospital.

Monserrate is running against Assemblyman Jose Peralta in a special election Tuesday. “I want to serve the community in an independent fashion,” said the outcast ex-legislator at his Corona headquarters. He also outlined his plans to increase police to fix overcrowded schools and provide affordable housing.

Mionserrate also criticized Tim Gill, the 53-year-homosexual millionaire and entrepreneur who has campaigned against anti-gay rights legislators, such as Monserrate, who has voted against same sex marriage. “Mr. Gill hasn’t spent a dollar to meet the needs of this community,” he said. “I’m just one elected official who voted against one issue. Mr. Gill instead spent his money negatively attacking me.”

When asked about the anti-gay literature circulated allegedly by Monserrate supporters, he said, “They’re doing their thing and I can’t speak on that.”

Monserrate also tried to rebut White House’s objection of his use of the term, “Yes, We Can” in his campaign.

“This slogan came from Cesar Chavez in the 1960s during the labor movement,” he said, ” and not from Obama.”

Hundreds of protesting commuters came to the MTA’s last public hearing before a vote on proposed service cuts that the agency says are needed to close a $400 million budget gap.

“The MTA is cash strapped?” Brooklyn resident Tony Murphy screamed during a March 4 hearing, pointing at 12 MTA board members who sat on a stage at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. “Brothers and sisters, does this body look cash-strapped to you?”

According to MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz, 154 commuters registered to deliver speeches of up to three minutes.

Deborah Short came from Far Rockaway to speak about the fare increases. “When would this insane beast ever be satisfied?” she asked. “I expect them to not raise the fares.”

The biggest applause came from the audience when 16-year-old Prisila Ruiz started to cry while talking to the board members about their plan to eliminate the free MetroCard for students. “What are you going to do if people stop going to school and start taking drugs?” she asked, as her friends from Aquinas High School in the Bronx started to shout: “Answer! Answer!”

“If my parents have to pay for my MetroCard my brother would probably have to stop taking his college classes,” Prisila said after testifying. “Buying a MetroCard for me would mean spending an additional thousand dollars for my family.”

The MetroCard issue was also a subject of Manhattan Borough President Scot Stringer’s testimony. “It’s easier to go after the kids rather than the politicians,” he said.

The MTA says that in December, it passed a 2010 budget that proposed closing the budget gap through laying off employees, mostly booth workers and bus drivers; eliminating 15 bus lines and two subway lines; and ending free MetroCards for students. The MTA is also considering a partial reduction of the Access-a-Ride service and decreasing the frequency of service on 11 subway lines. The MTA board will make the final vote on the budget cuts on March 24.

“Not all these cuts have to happen,” said Jason Chin-Fatt of the Straphangers Campaign, who distributed banners at the hearing. “We have a solution for that. It involves MTA using 10 percent of their stimulus funding that they received,” he said. “It’s written into the law that they can use 10 percent of the stimulus funding for operating costs including service or students’ MetroCards.”

The MTA published a 120-page proposal offering ways to close the budget gap and didn’t mention other solutions than the service cuts.

Chin-Fatt said he also supports the booth workers and bus drivers who started their demonstration five hours before the public hearing. Six-hundred members of the Transport Workers Union gathered in front of the Fashion Institute building holding banners and screaming to save their jobs.

“These are the eyes and ears of our stations,” said Chin-Fatt about the booth workers. “They are a link to the outside world and we will always support them.”

Jurors began deliberations today in the in the second trial of right-wing radio personality Hal Turner, who is accused of threatening three Chicago-based federal judges on his blog.

However, the Brooklyn federal jury soon returned to the courtroom telling the judge: “We cannot come to a decision. I don’t believe we ever will.”

But the judge urged the jury to continue deliberating.

In his blog Turner wrote that the Chicago judges “deserved to be killed” for upholding a law banning handguns. Turner was arrested in June, but his first trial in December ended in a hung jury. In the second trial the judges whom Turner allegedly threatened on his Web site took the stand to testify against him.

Turner’s lawyers argued that he was working undercover for the FBI and that his inflammatory statements were designed to draw extremist groups to his site so that the government could monitor them.

In a suprise move as the jury began deliberations Turner attempted to fire his defense lawyers. The reason was unknown.

In the blog post that sparked the charges Turner included photos of the judges, their addresses and said they were “worthy of death”. But, Turner insisted the posts were harmless.

“All talk, no action”, said Turner.

Turner took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and testified that he started working for the FBI from 2003 to 2007 for which he was paid $100,000; agents taught him how to make violent statements without breaking the law. On Friday FBI supervisor Amy Pickett testified for the defense, supporting his Turner’s contention that he worked for the bureau and saying that his blog did not pose a real threat.

If convicted, the defendant faces up to 10 years in prison.

Hundreds of union workers rallied in front of Ground Zero today to push for an agreement to begin the stalled construction of two new towers at the site and create thousands of jobs.

Build it now! Build it now” chanted a sea of macho men – and a few women — including plumbers, electricians, ornamental ironworkers and construction laborers, most of whom were sporting reflective vests, hard-hats, and their union insignia.

“Rebuilding the towers,” said Gary LaBarbara, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, “is not only important to our jobs; it’s important to our city and it’s important to our nation.”

The construction has been delayed because of an impasse in negotiations between the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the property. Silverstein has asked the PA to contribute financially to the proposed office towers, but so far the authority has refused because of doubts that the space will find tenants. Silverstein is yet to secure an anchor tenant for the project.

An arbitration panel has set Friday as the deadline for the parties to resolve their differences or face the panel imposing the terms.

Patriotism was on display here, with countless stars-and-stripes bandanas and 9/11 memorial paraphernalia. Behind the stage, cranes loomed motionless over the pit where the twin towers once stood.

Local politicians also chimed in.

“The Empire State Building took little more than a year to build at the height of the great depression,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney. “It is almost nine years after 9/11 … and instead of a shining symbol of American strength and resilience; we have a hole in the ground! We need to change that!”

“Let’s tell the truth,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as she took the podium, “It should have been built already. It is a disgrace!” 2037 is the year projected for completion of the project by a study commissioned by the Port Authority.

“If we want them built, they can be built,” she continued at a fever pitch. The parties involved, she told the crowd, “should go into that building, lock yourselves in a room, put a couple of NYPD guys and gals in front of the door, have you guys waiting down here, and tell ‘em not to come out until they have some good news!”

The crowd roared approval.

Representative Anthony Weiner pointed up at 7 World Trade Center and said, “Look at this building … this building has been up for years, it’s fully occupied, it’s energy efficient, it’s beautiful… that’s what happens when the lawyers get out of the way, and the workers get to work!”

“Is this the message you want to send to Osama bin Laden?” asked Community Board One Chairwoman Julie Menin. “Is this the message that you want to send? That New York cannot figure this out?”

The city Department of Environmental Protection announced today the opening of a new microbiology lab in Greenpoint which will help monitor and clean sewage before being sent into city rivers.

“This new microbiology lab will substantially increase our monitoring and testing capacity, giving us the vital information we need to meet and exceed treatment standards, and continue the resurgence of New York City’s waterways,” said DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway.

The lab, located at the Newton Creek water treatment plant, cost $2.3 million, and will also help monitoring Jamaica Bay.

“One of our core responsibilities is to make sure that wastewater is effectively treated, so that it has as little impact on our receiving waterways as possible,” said Holloway.

Brooklyn City Councilman Stephen Levin praised the plan. “New York City harbor has been the cleanest it’s been in 120 years, he siad.

The 53-acre facility cleans 20 percent of the city’s water, roughly 310 million gallons a day. The entire facility is going through a $5 billion upgrade, which is expected to be completed in 2014, officials said

The City Health Department announced today the winner of its condom design contest, a Queen’s man who based his design on an electronic power button representing New Yorkers turning their sex lives on and off while practicing safe sex.

The contest drew over 600 entries from all five boroughs as well as other states and countries. A panel of local artists, advertising professionals, and public health and social marketing experts chose the five finalists whose designs represented the condom program’s safe sex message. The top picks were posted on the condom program’s Facebook page where New Yorkers voted for their favorites.

The winner, Luis Acosta, 29, of Kew Gardens, took two days to brainstorm the idea. He was trained as a graphic designer and said he hoped to get a job in advertising.

“I wanted to send a positive message and be subtle with the design,” he said. “It’s so exciting, a little over whelming. I think it’s a positive message that they are sending with this program.”

Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the winner received 23 percent of the 15,000 votes cast.

“We hope Luis Acosta’s package design will remind all New Yorkers of their power to take control of their health,” said Farley.

Acosta’s design will appear on “several million” condom packets this fall, distributed free in various places throughout the city, including health clinics and high schools.

Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes announced today the indictment of three persons – including a former prosecutor, a former corrections officer and a former Transit Authority lawyer — charged with scamming the Transit Authority out of more than $150,000 in two separate schemes over four years.

According to the indictment, the head of the Transit Authority law department unit steered insurance claim work to a company owned by a former prosecutor in exchange for kickbacks.

In a separate scheme the same lawyer approved padded bills submitted by another business owner, a retired correction officer, in exchange for half the profits, the indictment charged.

“Jacqueline Jackson, whose job it was to save taxpayers money by fighting frivolous lawsuits against NYCTA, cost those taxpayers money, by stealing from the very agency that hired her,” said Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes of the accused TA lawyer

Jackson, 51, who was promoted in 1999 to the agency’s Law Department’s Legal Support Unit in the Torts Division, was in charge of setting up independent medical examinations for people suing the agency. She attained important documents such as insurance, medical and employment records relating to those plaintiffs and their claims.

Joyce Ilarraza, 63, a former City Corrections Officer, who retired in 1993, owned a record retrieval company called A.J.I Record Retrieval.

“A.J.I was the only company that was used by the TA people support unit to obtain records needed for the lawsuits,” said Hynes.

John E. Headley, 45, a former prosecutor at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office (from 1991 to 1995), owned a company called Advance IME Co. - which provided the agency lawyers with independent medical examinations, medical records and expert witnesses, to testify at trials.

Headley operated Advance IME Co. under a false name, James Douglass, because he also worked as an outside counsel for the agency, Hynes said

“This case represents probably a classic example of what’s characterized as a waste, fraud and abuse,” said MTA Inspector General Barry L. Kluger.

In one indictment, Headley is charged with working with Jackson to steal more than $98,000 from the agency in 2007 and 2008. In the other indictment, Jackson, Headley and Ilazzara are charged with stealing more than $50,000. Charges against the defendants carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The caravan trip on Feb. 15-19, coordinated by the New York Immigration Coalition and the Reform Immigration for America Campaign, consisted of stops in 10 cities and towns around New York State. The dozen advocates who took part in the road trip joined rallies wherever they went.

“The point is to raise the call for immigration reform,” said Norman Eng, a spokesman for the New York Immigration Coalition. “There are a lot of people, all around the state, who care deeply about this issue and we want to make sure that our members of Congress are with us on this.”

The participants are urging Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is playing a key role in the Senate in the immigration issue, and other officials to support legislation that reunites immigrant families, restores due process, protects workers’ rights, and provides accessible paths to naturalization and citizenship.

Chung-Wha Hong, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said it is vital that a commitment to comprehensive immigration reform be followed through because the longer the process gets delayed, the more immigrants continue to suffer.

“In the course of this five-day trip, nearly 5,000 people will be deported and more than 5,000 will be detained, and we’ll be no closer to a workable, common-sense immigration system that serves the national interest,” she said at the outset. “So we’re taking to the road, traveling across the state, bringing our message to our representatives on their home turf, joining our voices with their constituents, and making it clear that the typical Washington response of doing nothing is simply not acceptable.”

During the rallies, advocates in favor of immigration reform said that the changes would provide a “much-needed boost to our economy,” through additional tax revenue. They also said that the naturalization of undocumented immigrants would enhance the economy through their consumption, investments, and businesses.

According to a recent study conducted by the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for American Progress, immigration reform would add $1.5 trillion to America’s gross domestic product over the course of 10 years. On the contrary, in the next 10 years, mass deportations would decrease the gross domestic product by $2.6 trillion, the study said.

Aside from the financial benefits, the participants also said there were moral reasons for immigration reform. They said that deportations increased by almost 50 percent between 2003 and 2008 – leaving countless families divided. They have also said that “enhanced enforcement has had a deadly effect” during the last 15 years.

The road trip initiated in New York City and included stops in Carmel, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Sodus, Pittsford, Greece, Batavia, Buffalo, and Ithaca. It concluded in Brooklyn on Feb. 19.

A group of frustrated school bus drivers and escorts who have been without a contract for eight months protested on Tuesday in front their union building in Ozone Park, complaining of a lack of transparency by their union leaders who are negotiating the new contract.

The dissident union members, who call themselves Local 1181 Members for Change, belong to the Amalgamated Transit Union and are among those who bus hundreds of children to New York City Public Schools and school trips

“They won’t tell us what’s on the table,” said Reina Martinez, a member for 15 years. “They won’t say anything. The last contract, negotiations lasted for almost a year.”

The group marched around the front of the building shouting rhythmic pleas: “What do we need? Contract! When do we want it? Now!”

The protestors said that they have the lowest pensions for bus drivers in the city, no medical coverage for retirement, and receive no retroactive pay.

“If you retire before you are ready for Medicare, you have nothing,” said Dina Nero, who has been an escort for the past 15 years.

“I know guys who are still driving in their late 70’s,” said John Eadicicco, a bus driver for 20 years. “It’s a shame.”

School bus drivers put in $38.50 weekly towards their pension for 40 weeks of the year while management contributes $74.40. After 25 years of service, that equals $1275 a month compared to $2650 a month in pensions for city bus drivers.

Escorts complain that they get much less though they work just as many hours and days as the school bus drivers.

“I deal with a lot,” said Dina Nero. “Some of the children are difficult. We’re out in all kinds of weather. And now we have the union who’s supposed to stand besides us and we still have no contract.”

Union leaders were not available for comment.