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Most people know not to give out personal information to unsolicited phone callers or visitors. However, the Census process is an exception to the rule, because representatives do collect information by visiting households. Unfortunately, people may also be contacted by scammers who are using this as an opportunity to impersonate Census workers in order to gain access to sensitive financial information such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers. Although law enforcement in several states have issued warnings that scammers are posing as Census Bureau representatives, your BBB encourages caution. The big question is - how do you...

My wife received a letter from her doctor that the doctor had hired someone who used a stolen social security number. The doctor said the employee had stolen cash and was subsequently fired. She also gave the number of a detective on the case. According to the doc, the employee also had access to "sensitive information" on the doc, the doc's employees and the patients. Any advice as to what we should do? thanx

Researchers have found that it is possible to guess many -- if not all -- of the nine digits in an individual's Social Security number using publicly available information, a finding they say compromises the security of one of the most widely used consumer identifiers in the United States. Many numbers could be guessed at by simply knowing a person's birth data, the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University said.

WASHINGTON, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In May of this year, a Supreme Court decision severely impeded the use of identity theft charges as an immigration enforcement tool. In June, several people were arrested after a fraud scheme was uncovered at a Florida driver's license bureau. In July, a new Utah law targeting illegal aliens and document fraud will take effect. As these examples show, illegal immigration is inherently tied to document fraud and identity theft. As states continue to search for answers, it is apparent that the Federal government has not yet found a working legislative solution to deter these...

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, PATRICIA J. HAYNES, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division ("IRSCID"), JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), RONALD J. VERROCHIO, the Inspector-in- Charge of the New York Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS"), and JAMIE WOODWARD, the Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance ("NYSDTF"), announced the unsealing of a four-count Indictment charging...

Back in April 2008, APRPEH posted: Lifelock Getting Picked. At that time, Lifelock and its over-exposed CEO Todd Davis was at the beginning of a slew of legal issues. Well finally, the Experian case may have hammered the first nail into the coffin of Lifelock. According to the above story, Lifelock's procedure of proactively placing fraud alerts is an "unfair business practice". U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford of the Central District of California ruled that: "Experian clearly incurs costs each time it must process a fraud alert made by LifeLock. These costs include the costs of allocating Experian’s electronic resources...

A lot of you have been asking to see what a skimmer looks like before it's yanked off an ATM. Are they easy to spot or virtually unnoticeable? Our reader Timeus works for a bank and deals with this sort of thing every day, and he sent in the following photos. Enjoy.

In a 9-0 decision, the justices say the crime is limited to those who knew they had stolen another person's Social Security number. The decision limits efforts to prosecute illegal workers. Reporting Form Washington -- The Supreme Court today took away one tool for prosecuting and deporting workers who are in this country illegally, ruling that the crime of identity theft is limited to those who knew they had stolen another person's Social Security number. The 9-0 decision overturns part of an Illinois man's conviction for using false documents. The court agreed he could be imprisoned for using an ID...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An illegal immigrant who uses false identification papers must know they belonged to another person to be convicted of identity theft, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The high court's unanimous ruling was a victory for Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican illegal immigrant who used false identification to get a job at a steel plant in Illinois. He was convicted of aggravated identify theft, a law adopted in 2004 that carries a mandatory two-year prison term. The law has been increasingly used by the federal government to charge some of those arrested in raids at work sites...

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, and Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, announced that defendants Vittorio Tarantino, a/k/a “Feruccio Romagnioli,” 32, of Sunny Isles Beach, Alexandru Dragomir, 28, of Hallandale, Iosif Rauca, 35, of Boca Raton, and Gabriel Mircea Staicu, a/k/a “Gaby,” 41, of Boca Raton, were arraigned in Fort Lauderdale this morning on charges of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(b)(2), possession...

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, ANDREW CUOMO, the Attorney General of the State of New York, and RICHARD H. NEIMAN, the Superintendent for the New York State Banking Department, announced today that TAHIR ALI KHAN, the leader of a ring that used fake identification documents to bilk over 50 financial institutions out of more than $24 million, was sentenced today by United States District Judge LORETTA A. PRESKA to 14 years in prison. KHAN was indicted, along with 14 other co-defendants, in a multi-count Indictment unsealed on August 15, 2007....

ATTORNEY's ADVICE - NO CHARGE Not A Joke!! If you dislike attorneys..... You will love them for these tips. Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company. 1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards . Instead, put ' PHOTO ID REQUIRED .' 2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For'...

LONDON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's half brother was refused a visa to enter Britain because he had been accused of a serious crime on a previous visit, it was reported Saturday. Samson Obama was stopped by immigration officials at East Midlands Airport in January on his way to Washington for the president's inauguration, the Sunday newspaper News of the World reported, according to advance excerpts. Biometric tests alerted the authorities that Samson, a Kenyan mobile phone shop manager, had previously been arrested by police in Berkshire. That arrest followed an alleged sex attack on a British girl two...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—A jury convicted Henry “Uche” Obilo, age 29, of Miami Florida today of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, David Baker, Chief of Police, Alexandria Police Department, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office, and Jeffrey W. Irvine, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Washington Field Office, made the announcement. Obilo faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of approximately $17 million. United States District Judge T.S. Ellis,...

So what would you call it if someone picked some elderly man's name out of a phone book, then sent a mailing in his name out to people to convince them that a political cause is worth supporting? Would you call it identity theft? To a degree. A newer term might be astroturf. But what ever you call it, at the very least it is a lie. Well, leave it to Democrats to perpetrate this theft/lie to gin up support for a political cause. This is what happened in Massachusetts as uncovered by newspaperman Matthew Nadler of the Halifax-Plympton Reporter...

Parody song about a D.A.'s report posted on the Smoking Gun. All individuals portrayed are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Watch performance here. Lyrics: He told her she was only used for sex. He told her she was only used for sex. That really made her mad with photos that she had He told her she was only used for sex. She posted his nude photos on Craigslist. She posted his nude photos on Craigslist. And said he wanted men to talk dirty to him. She posted his nude photos on Craigslist. At least, that's what...

Identity Theft, Fraud To Be Discussed Live On PalTalk TechNow Interactive Social Networking Series By Helen Levy Israel News Agency Jerusalem --- February 27, 2009...... Paltalk, a pioneer in live interactive, global social networking video chat applications, will be hosting a program dedicated to identity theft, risk and fraud. The show, to be broadcast on March 3 at 3 p.m. EST, will be a part of PalTalk's new TechNow series dedicated to informing the Web 2.0 community to the latest developments in high tech. “Your Digital Identity – Manage it or Lose it”, will be moderated by two leading figures...

When it comes to most frustrating experiences with the legal system, Mark Giordano may win this week's prize. A resident of Fishkill, N.Y., Giordano is one of many Americans who are victims of identity theft. But unlike most, Giordano knows who the thief is. Not only that, he's talked to the guy on the phone. The alleged culprit has rented an apartment in the Parkmerced complex in Giordano's name, has signed him up for utilities, and ordered pizza with his credit card. Even 3,000 miles away, Giordano can pull up a photo of the apartment on his computer.But he can't...

In honor of Data Privacy Day 2009, APRPEH presents the article from 2006 It’s Me, and Here’s My Proof: Why Identity and Authentication Must Remain Distinct - Technet Microsoft - Steve Riley mentioned last week by Bruce Schneier on Schneier on Security. Schneier's blog is a great place online to go for security information. ---------------------------------------------------------When discussing identity we must first determine the audience to whom we are speaking. To some people identity is who they are. "My name is Ploni". To others identity might be a reflection of some important fact to which they identify answering the questions what they...

A little-discussed provision in President Obama's economic stimulus plan would demand that every American submit to a government program for electronic medical records without a choice to opt out, and it has privacy advocates more than a little alarmed. Patients might be alarmed, too, privacy advocates said, if they realized information such as documentation on abortions, mental health problems, impotence, being labeled as a non-compliant patient, lawsuits against doctors and sexual problems could be shared electronically with, perhaps, millions of people.

2009 is not even a full month old and already we have learned of two significant data breaches. Both breaches 5 Million Checkfree Consumers Warned involve account information, not personal identifying information (PII). Both, however could leave actual bank accounts of millions of consumers vulnerable to unauthorized access. The latter breach, if it proves to be as big as the initial indicators reveal, may result in the selling or closing of the business. Too extreme? The Heartland breach is being compared in scope to TJX (TJ Max) who was unable to handle the attorney general investigation, publicity and fines changed...

The chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission says homosexual activists have launched a criminal attack on his ministry. Recently, Dr. Ted Baehr says he learned about the distribution of a number of emails and blog posts that were supposedly from him or his organization. However, the emails were links to pornography, including homosexual content.

Hurray, another end of the year list. This one though (from Bank Info Security) is not reviewing the top movies, songs, celebrities but, the miserable failures in data security of 2008. With nine more days until the end of 2008, this post could be pre-mature. Data breach threats show no regard for end of the year holiday parties and frivolities. more

As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county's Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers. Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools. Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland license...

Below is a discussion concerning whether or not businesses or organizations suffer any consumer based ramifications from a data breach. Here is my two cents. As the Stillsecure blog alludes to, breaches need to be defined based upon what was lost. There is a huge difference between losing sales based information ie. credit card or debit card account information (further sub-divided by adding checking account routing and account numbers) and actual personal identifying information (PII). One way to think about the loyalty question is to frame it within an understanding of the consequences to the consumer. When credit card or...

Wow. Below is an identity theft article which almost has it all. The criminal activity in this case included check forgery, ACH fraud (automated clearing house – using the checking account number electronically), new account fraud, true name fraud-banking, utility identity theft, elderly abuse, and minor identity theft. Perpetrators of identity theft have a longer run in their business of fraud when they do not leave such an easy trail. This perpetrator made the investigative case very easy. All too often, amateur criminals find the path to criminal activity a very easy one but, like this girl, don’t believe that...

Lou Dobbs Tonight -- CNN -- November 14 "They're using identities of American citizens and the IRS is allowing it to happen." Casey Wian: More than 1,300 illegal aliens near Greeley, Colorado, have been using either stolen or phony Social Security numbers to receive at least $2.5 million in tax refunds, according to local law enforcement officials. (unbelievalbe video clip) Chief Jerry Garner, Greeley PD: These folks that are here illegally are victimizing American citizens by stealing their identity. Very, very often they are victimizing American citizens who are Latino. John Cooke, Weld County Sheriff: They're using identities of American...

Trying to get a handle on computer crime is always hard, made more difficult by the Alice-in-Wonderland nature of the Internet (On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog, etc.). However, each new data point on computer crime and the risks of identity theft appears more frightening. On Friday morning, the RSA FraudAction Research Lab reported it had uncovered a digital cache of more than a half million credit card numbers and online bank account logins and passwords that have been acquired during the past two-and-a-half years by what the researchers believe is a Russian online gang. These caches of...

Imagine that tens of thousands of mailers were sent out to potential identity thieves with your social security number on it, as well as your wife's. If you're Republican Congressman Bill Sali (R-Id.) you needn't imagine. The Idaho Democratic Party, desperate to knock off the Conservative stalwart, sent out a copy of a tax lien that Sali had against him twenty years ago with his social, as well as his wife's, exposed on the mailer. According to the Spokesman Review, State Democratic Executive Director Jim Hansen defended the ad saying, "He's a public figure, it's a public document. If he...

Newspaper requests information on all public employees for publication.

WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether people picked up on immigration violations also can face charges of identity theft if they use Social Security and other identification numbers that belong to others.

PORTLAND, Ore. — When identity theft suspect Christina Herrera was arrested, she didn't have to wait long to tell her husband. He was in the next holding cell. Herrera and Jason Keno were arrested a half-hour apart, and the coincidence helped police and prosecutors link what had appeared to be separate identity theft investigations. "It was kind of like crook karma that they're both picked up within a half-hour of each other, and we found evidence on each that tied the cases together," Portland Officer Barbara Glass told The Oregonian newspaper. "We're not surprised, never; but we're entertained, always." A...

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona. The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants...

.....a brazen family of fraudsters took advantage of sloppy subprime mortgage lenders to pull off a mindblowing scheme reeling in more than $200M - a devastating hit that contributed to the nation's financial crisis. Garri Zhigun was part of a Russian fraud ring using false documents, stolen ID's and "straw" buyers for over 1,000 subprime mortgages 2004-06. The 27-member gang worked out of a Brooklyn mortgage brokerage owned by Zhigun's mother........targets included fallen lenders Washington Mutual Bank, conned out of $842,500, Countrywide taken for $396,000.......and preyed on other banks and mortgage companies. Zhigun and accomplice Aleksander "Shorty" Lipkin bought condos...

In what is slowly turning into a endless loop of hacktivism activities, Bill O’Reilly’s BillOreilly.com has been compromised during the weekend, with personal details including passwords in plain text for 205 of the site’s members already leaking across Internet forums, as a response to his remarks regarding Wikileaks as a “one of those despicable, slimy, scummy websites” which recently published private information of Sarah Palin’s private email.

Former State Dept. employee Lawrence C. Yontz, 48, pled guilty before a U.S. magistrate to illegally accessing hundreds of passport files, including those of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He didn’t access Sarah Palin’s passport file, presumably because she obtained a passport for the first time last year. According to the Justice Dept.: In pleading guilty, Yontz admitted that between February 2005 and March 2008, he logged onto the PIERS database and viewed the passport applications of approximately 200 celebrities, athletes, actors, politicians and their immediate families, musicians, game show contestants, members of the media corps, prominent business...

"Mike Kernell, a longtime Tennessee state assemblyman from Memphis and a technology enthusiast, is concerned about future elections because the new machines are harder to get a look at. ''We used to be able to check the machines and see if they'd been tampered with,'' he said. ''It is now almost impossible.'' Mr. Kernell wonders whether he will have to hire a computer programmer in his next race to make sure the machines are working smoothly and haven't been tampered with. ''We've hit a brick wall,'' he said." - NY Times A "technology enthusiast" indeed. Did he help with his...

The guy who hacked into would-be VP Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account is none other than the son of a Democratic state representative from Tennessee, posits GatwayPundit. A convincing amount of evidence suggests the “hacker” (perhaps a status he doens’t deserve) is David Kernell, son of Tennessee representative Mike Kernell.

I'm calling this a vanity because it's not from any source, but I do not consider the topic a true "vanity." WHY HASN'T OBAMA RESPONDED TO THE PALIN EMAIL HACKING? Possibilities (one/more/all): 1. He condones it. 2. He's waiting to see if this turns into a negative for Palin, and if he can ride the lie that she used her personal email for official business while ignoring the fact that a serious crime has occurred. 3. He's behind it or the trail will lead too close to home. Any other thoughts? The silence from the Obama camp is positively deafening....

I'm getting bombarded with e-mails claiming that at least one of the persons responsible for hacking into Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account is David Kernell, the son of Tennessee state representative & Democrat Mike Kernell. The evidence is that the hacker responsible uses the e-mail: rubico10@yahoo.com . That email was used at one time by a person named David Kernell. Democratic politician Mike Kernell has a son named David. Pretty thin, but it's a starting place. Also, earlier I posted that it would be relatively easy to track down the Palin hacker by comparing the Wikileak IPs to the IPs...

You are clever and creative; it's time to find a target worthy of your talents. Like Sarah Palin. Start harassing her! ......PS: Don't blow up our servers. Thanks! .....and that it was time for them to find a new target. We even threw out a suggestion: Sarah Palin! And then yesterday, this happened........ Just last week, we posted a brief open letter to Anonymous, the Internet-based rabble-rousers who have made a name for themselves taking on Scientology, in which we said that they'd succeeded in ruining the Church's reputation, and that it was time for them to find a new...

Sometime early this morning, between approximately 3:00am - 4:00am, members of an infamous group of hackers broke into Gov. Sarah Palin’s private Yahoo e-mail account. The incriminating discussion threads included screenshots of Palin’s e-mail and private e-mail addresses of her contacts. The threads have since been deleted. Hacking e-mail is a federal crime. A TV anchor who broke into his colleague’s e-mail account recently pleaded guilty and faces a maximum five years in prison. The law will catch up to the hackers, but what about the lowlifes who are now gleefully splashing the alleged contents of Palin’s private e-mail account...

This afternoon, I mentioned an infamous group of hackers whose Internet bulletin board was the gathering place for those who bragged about and publicized the Sarah Palin private e-mail hacking. A tech-savvy reader who monitors the hackers’ site e-mailed me a detailed explanation of how it went down, who was responsible, and how someone with a conscience warned a friend of the Palin family of the crime (language warning):

John McCain's campaign said Wednesday it has contacted "appropriate authorities" over a report that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail had been hacked. "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment." The statement came hours after a user on the Web site WikiLeaks said he had gained access to Palin's Yahoo e-mail account and gained access....

Top Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans stated she used C-SPAN credentials without the cable news outlet's knowledge at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week.Also, her Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin bragged to the press at the Democratic National Convention that she had convention press credentials under the name of a Christian radio netweork.Evans, who has been a part of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign finance operations since the beginning of his run for the White House in February 2007, charged the stage when Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was making her acceptance speech. She claimed to...

Identity crisis Law bars officials from cross-checking Social Security numbers Monday, September 8, 2008 3:12 AM By Jill Riepenhoff and Stephanie Czekalinski THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Buddy Birdwell has a wife and two kids -- and more lives than a cat. When he's not a resident of northeastern Oregon who refurbishes furniture and belongs to the National Rifle Association, he is: Adrian, a Columbus fast-food worker with a history of domestic violence. Ernesto, a 33-year-old Dublin man caught driving without a license two years ago. Maria Theresa, who bought a $220,000 house in Phoenix in 2006. Carlos in Phoenix; Hector in...

The Internet provides vast amounts of information but it can also spread vast amounts of misinformation, or even deliberately misleading disinformation. For more than two weeks, scarcely a day has gone by without e-mails pouring in to me, asking about columns that someone has written and brazenly spread around the Internet with my name on them. Most of these e-mails have come from regular readers who are savvy enough to recognize columns that have a different style and substance from my own columns. We usually think of "identity theft" as involving using someone else's name for economic fraud. But identity...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. immigration agents have arrested 595 people at a Mississippi factory in what was the largest workplace enforcement raid in the United States to date, an immigration official said on Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said federal agents arrested the workers in a raid at the Howard Industries Inc. factory in Laurel, Miss, on Monday, "This is the largest targeted workplace enforcement operation we have carried out in the United States to date," Gonzalez told Reuters by telephone. The swoop at the plant, which makes electrical equipment including transformers, was part of an ongoing...

KRQE Channel 13 in Albuquerque aired this disturbing report about criminals, including child rapists, persons convicted of fraud and forgery, and drug dealers, being hired by ACORN to solicit voter registrations: The litany convictions and charges against these individuals is long and this story is not the first problem for ACORN this year nationally or in New Mexico. In June the Dona Ana County Clerk warned citizens about registering with third party groups. Across the country states like Arizona, Arkansas Louisiana, Nevada, Virginia, Wisconsin and others have warned citizens about registering with and providing sensitive personal information to groups like...

(CNN) -- Eleven people were indicted Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers, federal authorities said. The indictments, which alleged that at least nine major U.S. retailers were hacked, were unsealed Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, prosecutors said. It is believed to be the largest hacking case that the Justice Department has ever tried to prosecute. Three of the defendants are from the United States; three are from Estonia; three are from Ukraine, two are from China and one is from Belarus. The remaining individual is known only by an alias...