Archive for December, 2008

ID Theft Scam Makes Front Page Headlines in L.A.

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

The Los Angeles Daily News ran a front page headline yesterday that was right up my alley! The L.A.P.D . in this case, got their man and the bust was one of the most significant fraud arrests in recent Southern California memory.

Not only was the culprit apprehended after a lengthy investigation, but the tools of his trade were confiscated, making this arrest one of the more successful in terms of peeking into the secret world of a full time identity thief.

Like the illusionists in Las Vegas, these trade secrets are highly guarded from the public unless someone gets the chance to pull the curtain back to reveal the inner-workings of these clever con-men.

As reported in the Daily News yesterday:

“….underneath his cool and collected exterior, the 44-year old man was found to possess more than 1000 forged credit cards he used to scam San Fernando Valley residents and businesses in an operation estimated to have netted millions of dollars, police said. His bail was set at $2 million and we’re investigating mail fraud, grand theft and additional charges…”

Investigators discovered state-of-the-art tools and equipment that enabled the suspect to create magnetic strips for the back of the fake credit cards. Stores like Costco, Wal-mart and Sam’s Club were perfect locations for the suspect to go on shopping sprees with the fake credit cards.

Fortunately, an alert internal investigations team at Costco noticed the suspect’s unusual purchasing patterns in one of their stores and the investigation was finally brought to a conclusion several months later.

Thanks in part to Hollywood, the theft or misappropriation of an identity for the purpose of financial gain is all to common in television and movies, which desensitizes us to the devastating financial impact of this no-so-victimless crime in the “real world”.

Anyone who rents property should note that this particular case includes private financial information which was included on confiscated rental applications. Costco has partnered with Identity Guard to offer credit monitoring services to their members for a nominal monthly fee.

A few reminders are in order:

  • Don’t lend your credit cards to anyone (seems obvious I know)
  • Monitor your statements to detect unauthorized activity on your account
  • Report suspicious activity in writing to the card issuer
  • Make sure your mailbox is locked to protect statements or new cards that arrive
  • Minimize the number of credit cards that you carry
  • College dorms and apartments are rich targets for prying eyes and sticky fingers
  • Use online sites that start with https:// which tend to indicate they are “secure”

This case underscores the reality and vitality of professional identity theft gangs. Although credit isn’t as easy to obtain during this holiday season as it has been in the past, your chances of being victimized are better than ever.

Desperate times call for deliberate counter-measures!

Posted in Credit card fraud, Data security | No Comments »

If Obama and Palin Can Be Hacked, So Can You!

Monday, December 1st, 2008

With the holiday season upon us and the election season behind us, the average consumer may have their attention diverted away from personal privacy issues.

President-elect Barack Obama and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin were concentrating on the election, while high tech thieves smelled an opportunity to violate the candidates’ privacy with reckless abandon. These fraudsters were phone company insiders and random email hackers, not mobsters from an Eastern European crime family.

Here is an excerpt from a story posted on fiercewireless.com:

“Verizon Wireless has fired the employees who accessed President-elect Barack Obama’s personal cell phone account without authorization.

A report on CNN.com quoted an unnamed Verizon source, who would not disclose how many people were fired but said, “we now consider this matter closed.” Apparently the employees were involved in customer service and were not authorized to look at an account unless a customer requested it.

The source also said that records of no other well-known customers had been breached. The phone that was accessed was a flip phone that had been inactive for months, and was not a Blackberry or other smartphone from which email could have been sent or data services could have been accessed.”

In Palin’s case, a 20-year-old student at the University of Tennessee has been indicted for breaking into one of Palin’s accounts and posting the information on a public website.

Here’s the point. We are all vulnerable to attack even if we are careful to do everything right in the privacy arena. Recovering from the emotional roller-coaster and sense of violation after being victimized can be both traumatic and lengthy. In extreme cases, you could even be facing a run-in with the law.

Prepare to remain steadfast this holiday season. If you are a member of AAA, you can unwrap an early Christmas present from them just by visiting their website and reading about their “free”, yes FREE credit monitoring and alerts for members only.

Posted in Data security, Federal Government, Personal privacy | No Comments »