If you’re going to use someone else’s identity to go on a shopping spree, you might as well go hog-wild and hit some upscale stores. At the very least, don’t go shopping at a discount warehouse store where you’ll need to have your picture taken for your membership card. [More]
ID theft
Help! My Gmail Account Was Hacked! How Do I Clean This Up?
By 10.12.10
Reader Lisa would like to ask the Consumerist hive mind for advice on cleaning up her recently hacked Gmail account. Here’s her story: [More]
Hacked Card Readers Found At Aldi Stores In 11 States
By 10.4.10
Late last week, discount grocery chain Aldi revealed that customers’ banking info may have been compromised by card readers that had been illegally tampered with at stores in 11 states. [More]
A Site That Sells Stolen Credit Cards And Slaps Scammers With Fees
By 9.22.10
We’d heard that credit card information can fetch as little as $1.50 on the open market, but we never really thought about what the experience of actually purchasing the info was like. Well, it turns out that buying a stolen credit card is a process riddled with fees. Who knew? [More]
Ohio Woman Indicted For Using Starbucks Job Applications To Commit ID Theft Worth $115K
By 8.26.10
The last thing anyone needs when they’re out of work is to worry about the safety of the personal information they put on a job application. But the U.S. Attorney in Ohio has indicted a woman on allegations that she used this sensitive info to falsely obtain credit cards and run up a $115,000 tab. [More]
After Posting SS# In Ads, Lifelock CEO's Identity Stolen 13 Times
By 5.19.10
So confident is Lifelock in its $10-$15/month “identity theft protection service” that its CEO Todd Davis posts his social security number in its ads. Unfortunately, his identity has been stolen 13 times since doing so, reports the Phoenix Times. The FTC fined Lifelock $12 million in March for deceptive advertising.
Cracking LifeLock: Even After a $12 Million Penalty for Deceptive Advertising, the Tempe Company Can’t Be Honest About Its Identity-Theft-Protection Service [Phoenix New Times]
Duo Buys $10K Worth Of Domino's Pizza With Stolen Credit Cards
By 5.6.10
Here’s a question for ya: If you were going to risk jail time by using stolen credit card information, what would you choose to spend the ill-gotten money on? According to police in Louisiana, the answer for two local men was to spend $10,000 dollars at Domino’s Pizza. [More]
Is Your Photocopier Putting You At Risk For ID Theft?
By 4.30.10
Long gone are mimeographs or photocopiers that used mechanical means to reproduce whatever document needed reproducing. Now, almost all copiers are also scanners, fax machines and rotisserie ovens (okay, so not that last one). As such, they contain some method of electronic storage that could possibly be used by individuals with shady purposes. That’s why a Congressman from Massachusetts has asked the FTC to look into just how risky it is to use these new-fangled machines. [More]
ID Theft Ring Used Hospital Records For $300K Shopping Spree
By 3.26.10
Ten women are charged with using illegally obtained patient information from a Chicago-area hospital to rack up over $300,000 in fake credit card purchases at stores like Victoria’s Secret, Lowe’s and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry. [More]
Computer Hacking ID Thief Gets 20-Year Prison Term
By 3.26.10
A federal court in Boston has sentenced Albert Gonzalez, the Miami computer hacker behind millions of dollars in credit card theft from national retailers like TJ Maxx, BJs, Barnes & Noble and more, to 20 years in prison for his crimes. [More]
Woman Suspected In Multiple ID Thefts Did It "To Buy Groceries"
By 3.25.10
Forget those guys who held up a Taco Bell just to score some apple empanadas. That’s small-time compared to the Tacoma-area woman, now facing at least 12 counts of ID theft, who says she did it all “to buy groceries.” [More]
LifeLock Settles With FTC For $11 Million Over False ClaimsIn Ads
By 3.9.10 — Updated: 11.21.16
For several years, LifeLock has been so brash about their skills at protecting customers from ID theft that they not only drove around a truck displaying their CEO’s Social Security Number in public, they also advertised his SSN on TV ads. But that hubris has come back to bite them on the rear, as LifeLock has just agreed to a $11 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the bulked-up claims made in their ads. [More]
Citibank Is Sorry For Printing Your SSN On The Outside Of Envelopes
By 2.26.10
This January, Citibank sent out 600,000 mailers with their customers’ social security numbers printed on the outside of the envelope. Whoopsie! [More]
Credit Card Hacker And ID Theft Forum Overlord Sentenced To 13 Years Prison
By 2.12.10
Max Vision, the security consultant who was first sent to prison in 2001 for messing with the Pentagon, has now been sent to 13 years in prison for “stealing nearly two million credit card numbers from banks, businesses and other hackers,” reports Wired. The FBI took a renewed interest in Vision in 2006 after he successfully made a power grab on several competing black market ID theft websites. “I’ve changed,” Vision wrote in a letter to the court, and although he faced life in prison, he was given the shorter sentence partly because he’d cooperated with the government. With good behavior he’ll be back out in 2018. [More]
Comcast To Warn You If Your Zombie Computer Is Secretly Spamming People
By 10.9.09
Where does spam come from? Well, there are these things called botnets. They’re networks of hijacked computers that secretly do the bidding of their masters. Often, they send out spam. Comcast plans to offer an automated service that will inform you, within your browser, if your computer is behaving as if it has been compromised by malware.
Grab Your Old Statements, We're Going To The Shred-A-Thon!
By 9.16.09
Tucson, Arizona is hosting a community shred-a-thon in October, where private citizens can show up with boxes of sensitive data and have it shredded for free. Back in July, the Wall Street Journal looked at the growing trend of community shredding events as an example of how regular people are taking action to prevent identity theft.
5 Ways To Prevent Identity Theft
By 9.14.09
If you’re still not shredding, locking, and canceling, maybe a giant graphic will get the point across. Follow these five tips and you’ll be well on your way to securing your side of things when it comes to ID theft.
ID Theft Ringleader Pleads Guilty
By 9.11.09
Albert Gonzalez, a 28-year-old from Miami who was arrested last year and charged with leading “a worldwide ring that stole more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from major retail chains,” plead guilty today as part of a plea bargain. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
