Despite the conventional wisdom (including my own) which says most identity thieves never get caught, one high profile flim-flam artist is about to get the big chill.
According to a report originating from Denver’s NBC-TV news affiliate KUSA, one of the most prolific financial criminals in U.S. history is about to be sentenced to a maximum of up to 36 years in prison.
The person awaiting sentencing is 38 year old Shonya Young. Ms. Young was part of an identity theft ring that was busted after stealing the purse of the wife of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
According to reports, Young is the person who actually drained Mrs. Bernanke’s checking account after her purse was swiped from a Washington D.C. area Starbucks.
To lessen the chances that you could become the next victim, consider leaving the following items in a secure place and not in your purse, wallet or backpack:
- Checkbook
- Unused credit/debit cards
- Social Security card
- Passport
Three kinds of awareness are helpful here. The first is an awareness of your possessions including personal items like laptops, backpacks, wallets and purses.
Second, be aware of your physical surroundings involving transactional privacy while using smartphones, ATM’s and WI-FI hotspots.
The third is financial reporting awareness, which comes from closely monitoring your credit card and banking statements to look for irregularities on at least a monthly basis.
There is no substitute for awareness coupled with action in order to detect, deflect and destroy the efforts of identity thieves who are still out there lurking in the wings.
