Bank vice-president and Mother, worked together to steal idenities

A mother and daughter ‘team’ has pleaded guilty to charges relating to identity theft. The daughter worked as a bank vice president business development officer, at the Bank of the West and stole customer’s information. The mother then used her job as a real-estate agent, to find vacant homes where the fraudulent credit cards could be sent and picked up.

• Story link from seattletimes.com, posted on Oct. 3, 2008 – http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008224241_idtheft03.html

A Kennewick woman admitted she helped her daughter devise a scheme to steal people’s identities with information her daughter had access to as a bank vice president.

Cynthia Jean Walker, 54, also admitted that she used her job as a licensed real-estate agent to find vacant homes where the fraudulent credit cards could be sent and picked up.

Web site posts Iowans private information

If you live in Iowa, or have ever owned any home in that state, then your information is now public! (or at least it has been). A land owners website has been posting home mortgage records and other documents from each county, since 2005! The article also states that records older than 5 yrs include personal information on the documents, like your Social Security Number!

• Story link from chicagotribune.com, posted on Sept 3, 2008 – http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-ia-identitytheftwebs,0,832731.story

A Web site sponsored by elected officials includes Social Security numbers and other data for thousands of Iowans — including Gov. Chet Culver.

IowaLandRecords.org, includes home mortgage records and other documents from each of Iowa’s 99 counties. The Web site was launched in January 2005 by the Iowa County Recorders Association. Records on the site that are older than six years old typically include Social Security numbers

****UPDATE NOTE *****

At the time of this writing, I was able to register as a user on the site, and download records with personal information! Hopefully this gets taked down soon.

Banking customers’ personal info sold on eBay

Here is a story about a computer server, that was held customer archiving information from the Royal Bank of Scotland, was sold on eBay. The best part is, they did not remove the information off of the HARD DRIVE!

• Story link from msnbc.com, posted on Aug 26, 2008 – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26412391/

A computer containing banking security details of more than 1 million people has been sold on eBay, bank officials said Tuesday.

The Royal Bank of Scotland acknowledged that a machine belonging to archiving company Graphic Data and sold “inappropriately to a third party” had information on credit card applications from some RBS customers and data from other banks. The computer contained account numbers, passwords, mobile telephone numbers and signatures.

Former Police Chief charged with forging records for Identity Theft

Here is a former Police Chief who has been charged with Identity Theft. According to court records, he forged police records, so his girlfriend can use them to falsely claim she was a victim of Identity Theft

• Story link from thetimes-tribune.com, posted on Aug 15, 2008 – http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/sc_times_trib.20080814.a.pg1.tt14kizer_s1.1875630_top3.txt

A former Wyoming County police chief and part-time officer in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties was back in court Wednesday, this time to face charges that he forged police records to help a girlfriend.

Former Falls Township Police Chief Jason Kizer was arraigned in Lackawanna County Court on one count of tampering with public records or information, two counts of forgery and one count of criminal conspiracy. He was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

Employees at Charter told data was stolen

The cable provider company, Charter Communications, is telling 9,000 current and former employees that their personal information was involved in a security breach that occurred when a number of laptops were stolen last month.

• Story link from Worcester, Mass. on-line newspaper, telegram.com, posted on Aug. 13, 2008 – http://www.telegram.com/article/20080813/NEWS/808130324/1002

Cable television operator Charter Communications Inc. is alerting employees, including some in Massachusetts, that their personal information was involved in a security breach that occurred when a number of laptop computers were stolen last month from a Charter media facility in Greenville, S.C.

The personal information consisted of names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. Mr. Richmond declined to say how the laptops were used, why they contained the information and whether the records were encrypted.

In the process of identifying the information contained on the laptops, we discovered the personal information of about 9,000 current and former employees.

Some stores not telling customers about credit card breaches

The Dept. of Justice broke up the largest credit card hacking ring from retail stores all over the U.S. Over 40 million credit cards from nine retailers. However, only four-out-of-nine actually informed customers that their information had been compromised.

The other stores say they never told customers because they never confirmed data were stolen from them.

• Story link from Wall Street Journal on-line, posted on Aug. 11, 2008 – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121842142123128889.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Most states mandate that companies tell their customers when their credit-card data is stolen from the stores. The laws are designed to give consumers a chance to protect themselves against fraud or identity theft.

But when federal prosecutors disclosed last week that computer hackers swiped more than 40 million credit-card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it.

That’s because only four of the chains clearly alerted their customers to breaches.

Alaska Air Group reports credit-card misuse

If you bought a plane ticket from Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air with your credit card, then your card might have been misused. About 1,500 people’s information has been reported that a call-center employee diverted some payments to a personal account.

• Reported from Seattle Times newpaper online busniess headlines, posted on Aug 7, 2008 – http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008097068_bizbriefs07.html

About 1,500 people who bought tickets from Alaska or Horizon airlines have been notified their credit cards were misused.

Alaska Air Group said a call-center employee diverted some payments to a personal account.

The Seattle-based parent company for the airlines said it notified police and is cooperating with the investigation.

Alaska Air said customers should review their credit-card statements for any unauthorized transactions.

Data on 90,000 people stolen, with Anheuser-Busch laptops

Anheuser-Busch has reported that laptops containing data on, “more than 90,000 people nationwide“, have been stolen. The laptops had information on current and former employees, along with over 3,000 people that were involved in assistance programs.

Who carries that information around on a laptop? I wonder if the laptops were stolen from a bar?

• Original story from Associate Press, link is from www.boston.com, posted on Aug 5, 2008 – http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/08/05/data_on_90000_stolen_with_laptops/

More than 90,000 people nationwide have been affected by the theft of laptops with personal information about current and former employees of Anheuser-Busch Inc.

In all, residents in at least six states are involved.

The missing data included Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and other information, according to the Florida letter, which was given to The Associated Press by the Florida attorney general’s office.

HR employee arrested on Identity Theft

The assistant human resources managerat American Greetings in KY has been arrested with charges of ID Theft. He apparently took the social security numbers and other personal information of employees, and tried applied for loans using fake Driver’s License’s, Social Security Cards and Credit Cards of other employees.

•  Story link from local news media, www.kystandard.com, posted on Aug 1, 2008 – http://www.kystandard.com/cgi-bin/storyviewnew.cgi?091+News.200881-1852-091-091038.Full+News

A human resources employee at American Greetings was arrested Monday after attempting to get a loan with another employee’s identification.

William David Kaelin, 36, Louisville, allegedly entered National City Bank, Monday to apply for a loan. He completed and signed loan papers for $10,000 using the name and Social Security number of an American Greetings employee.

Kaelin gave a confession statement referencing the use of past and present American Greetings employees’ information to obtain loans for money via the Internet.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Sends Personal Information To Wrong Addresses

The largest health insurance provider in Georgia has sent mail to the wrong addresses, possibly affecting over 200,000 people to identity theft.

You would think a health insurance agency would have better practices in place to protect individuals’ information.

• Story reported by the Associate Press, link from local news station www.wsbtv.com, posted on July 29, 2008 – http://www.wsbtv.com/news/17025491/detail.html

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that the letters were sent last week by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. They include the patients’ name and ID number, the name of the medical service provider and the amounts charged and owed.

A company spokeswoman said “a small percentage” of the letters also contained Social Security numbers.