Interesting Articles From This Past Week

Since my last post, I was out of town again with the Crime Victims Coalition. Below are some of the more interesting articles in the world of Id Theft while I was gone. Just click on the title of the article to read the whole story.

Feds nab more members of alleged identity theft gang
Four more U.S. residents accused of using stolen data to take millions from bank accounts

By Jaikumar Vijayan

December 2, 2008 (Computerworld) Federal authorities say they have taken another step toward busting a multinational identity theft ring that is alleged to have used stolen personal data to withdraw millions of dollars from home equity line-of-credit accounts at dozens of financial institutions in the U.S., including some of the country's largest banks.

Four individuals were arrested last week in connection with the alleged scheme, which has resulted in more than $2.5 million being stolen from the affected financial institutions, according to law enforcement officials. Another $4 million worth of attempted withdrawals by the gang were unsuccessful, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said in announcing the arrests last Wednesday (download PDF).

...The identity theft gang operates in the U.S. as well as the U.K., Canada, China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and several other countries, the court documents said...

... The documents said that accounts were compromised at Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Wachovia, Bank of America and "dozens" of other banks and credit unions, including the Navy Federal Credit Union, U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union and State Department Federal Credit Union...

Theft of children's identities often goes unnoticed for years

Social Security numbers can make kids easy targets

By Diane C. Lade |South Florida Sun-Sentinel

December 1, 2008

Randy Waldron Jr. deposited his first paycheck when he was an infant. By the time he was in elementary school, he had bought and sold property, cars and restaurants and racked up tax liens because of financial problems.

He had a felony record at age 7.

At least so said credit reports, property records and court documents. But the true culprit, Waldron said, was his estranged father, Randolph Waldron Sr., of Loxahatchee, who covertly used the boy's Social Security number for 22 years, beginning shortly after his birth.

....The Federal Trade Commission estimates about 500,000 identity theft incidents annually involve children under age 19, with the majority of the thefts occurring between birth and age 5. That's about 5 percent of all suspected ID theft cases. Federal officials said they have seen the numbers rise slightly during the past several years.


'Jackal' jailed for identity theft of dead boy

Published Date: 28 November 2008

AN Edinburgh man who obtained a false passport using the identity of a dead child has been jailed.

Gerald Duffy, 39, used the method outlined in Frederick Forsyth's bestseller The Day of the Jackal to get the document. He applied for the passport using the birth certificate of Andrew Lappin, who died in a road accident in 1972, aged three, and then used it to open a bank account.

Jailing Duffy – who lived in Newbattle Terrace in Morningside – for four years and nine months, judge Lord Turnbull told him: "You opened a bank account in a false name and then used it to pay for flights abroad and overseas hotels where you would have used the false passport. I consider there was a sinister and sophisticated aspect to all of this. The insult to the family of Andrew Lappin and the upset it caused them is obvious."

Man steals toddler's identity

Nov 27, 2008

A man in North Carolina stole the identity of a three-year-old girl to sign up for phone and gas accounts.

When the little girl's grandmother started getting bills in the child's name and a collection agency arrived at their home, she called police.

The services were traced to Michael Maris, who was charged with identity theft.

To learn more about Identity Theft and what to do if you are a victim, visit www.StopIdTheftCrime.com and subscribe to the newsletter to obtain your free 46 page eBook "Fighting Back Against Identity Theft".

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