Identity theft reports to the Federal Trade Commission show that Verizon was the most frequently named company, averaging over 900 events per month in 2007. According to an updated study by Chris Hoofnagle, senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, the number of complaints involving Verizon nearly tripled from 2006. Rounding out the top five are AFNI (a collection agency), JP Morgan Chase, AT&T, and Capital One.
identity theft
Brooklyn Ice Cream Shop Owner Stole $25,000 From Customers
By 7.18.08
Police arrested Daniel Kaufman yesterday and charged him with identity theft and forgery for running customers’ credit cards through twice and pocketing the extra money—as much as $25,000 since February, and “cops say that Kaufman also attempted to steal $70,000 more,” reports the local Brooklyn Paper. Kaufman managed the Blue Pig ice cream shop as well as three other restaurants, and he took credit card slips from one business and ran them through at another.
Why No Credit Card Is 100% Safe Against Fraud
By 7.18.08
It seems that there is nothing a consumer can do to completely prevent a merchant from putting an unauthorized charge through on their account. Even if that account is closed or you’re using a “single-use” or “virtual” credit card, fraud-prevention cards with disposable credit card numbers that change after you use them once, you’re not 100% secure. How come? Well, we’ll tell ya.
5 Steps To Take If Your Identity Is Stolen
By 7.17.08
The website DebtConsolidationCare receives letters like this all the time, “O Heavens! I found that my master card has been stolen from my purse when I had gone to a party. Someone took out $500 from it. I found it out when I saw the billing statement. What shall I do now? What shall I do to get out of this whole thing? I am planning to close the account. What else should I do?” According to their statistics, every minute, 20 people are affected by identity theft which adds up to about 10 million a year. To help people like these, DebtConsolidationCare has put together a list of 5 steps you should take if your identity is stolen. Check out the list, inside…
Curves Leaves Working Computer Full Of Personal Information In An Office Dumpster
By 7.4.08
UPDATE: Adam has been in contact with the owners and has posted an update on his site.
Chase Doesn't Encrypt Your Login Credentials?
By 7.2.08
We’re not IT experts or anything, but when Chase writes that “all your account information is protected by 128-bit encryption to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your data,” shouldn’t that mean a little lock icon on the browser window, and an https address? Update: Not necessarily, according to our commenters, although the lack of an https login screen does pose other security risks.
Woman Used Dead Grandma's Credit Card To Charge Up $11,000
By 6.30.08
Melanie Schleiger is proof that credit card fraud sometimes starts at home, after she and her boyfriend were arrested last week for making 69 purchases totaling $11,715 on a credit card belonging to her grandmother, who died in 2003. The charges were discovered when the deceased woman’s daughter-in-law received the bill and called the police. It’s going to be an awkward Fourth of July this year!
Radio Shack Takes Selling Used Digital Recorder Containing Personal Information As New Seriously
By 6.3.08
THE QUOTE: “RadioShack takes seriously its obligation to safeguard the privacy of our customers. In this isolated instance, our records indicate a customer returned a digital recording device and said it did not work. Unknown to us, it actually did work and apparently contained recordings of personal conversations the customer failed to erase from the memory before returning the product.”
5 Ways To Avoid Check Fraud And Thwart Identity Thieves
By 5.31.08
Check-altering criminal mastermind Frank Abagnale has five ways to lockdown your checking account and secure your identity. Check fraud isn’t an anachronistic threat like Communism. Determined thieves can easily use your checks to steal your cash and your identity. Here’s how to stop them…
Former Time Warner CSR Arrested For ID Theft
By 5.28.08
A woman in Cincinnati was arrested this week and charged with two counts of identity theft and two counts of theft, for allegedly stealing the credit card information of a customer who was paying a bill in November 2007. Time Warner fired her when the investigation started and it appears no other customers were affected, but it’s a good reminder to stay on top of your credit report at all times.
Former Employee Says TJX Security In Lawrence, Kansas Is A Joke
By 5.27.08
Remember TJX’s gigantic security breach problems last year, where data on 94 million accounts was stolen? Good for you, because apparently TJX doesn’t. A former employee of a TJX store in Lawrence, Kansas was fired recently for posting anonymous complaints online about the current sorry state of his store’s security, which included the store manager writing server login and password information on a sticky note, and the store resetting employee passwords to blank fields.
Man Convicted Of Spending $3.2M In 3 Months Using Photocopied ID & SSN
By 5.9.08
According to 9 News in Denver, James Hartman was convicted and sentenced to 8 years in prison for spending $3.2 million on vehicles and land using his brother’s photocopied driver’s license and social security number. Investigators are still trying to understand how this man could do so much spending damage with virtually zero credentials. Details, inside…
RadioShack Won't Give Refund On Cash Purchase Unless You Show Your Papers
By 5.8.08
RadioShack’s whole collecting-your-personal-data nonsense is old news, but it’s not just for purchases anymore. When Pete tried to take back some potentiometers he’d paid for the day before with cash, the clerk refused to give him any sort of refund—even a store credit—without Pete’s physical address.
Chase Telemarketing Tactics: Try Being Sneaky, Then Launch Vague Threats
By 5.7.08
A reader writes in to share his traumatic experience with a Chase telemarketer who first tried to sneak a sale into the one-way conversation, then launched into scare tactics like asking, “What are you going to do when someone steals your identity?” R. writes, “I feel like I need protection from Chase’s employees.”
University Of California Hospital Publicizes 6,000 Patient Records While Mining For Prospective Donors
By 5.4.08
The University of California’s non-profit medical center accidentally exposed 6,000 patient records as part of their continuing effort to hunt for prospective donors. The “large and very significant data breach” was caused by UCSF’s data miner, Target America, which received details on almost 40,000 patients.
It's Easy To Access Random Customer Info With Best Buy URLs
By 5.2.08
Cole discovered that by simply incrementing a numerical string by one in a url Best Buy sent out, he could pull up screen after screen of random customer info. Fortunately, all he could see were customer names, their home addresses, and their order numbers. It’s still surprising that Best Buy—or more specifically, Postpublisher.net, the email company they outsourced this to—wasn’t more careful with customer security.
