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.

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.

More Hospital Employees looking at patients records

Earlier this year, there was news of some medical workers looking at the medical records of celebrities. UCLA Medical Center warned it’s employees that they would be cracking down on this unauthorized access, however 127 UCLA workers have been implicated recently.

• Story link from http://www.latimes.com/, posted on Aug 5, 2008 – http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-health5-2008aug05,0,3890869,full.story

…twice as many medical center employees as had previously been reported peeked at confidential medical records at UCLA. Nearly 60 additional employees gained improper access to records between January 2004 and June 2006, bringing the total number of workers implicated in the growing scandal to 127.

…one employee — a former administrative specialist — looked at the records of 939 patients “without any legitimate reason”. She also looked at other personal information, including Social Security numbers, the state now says.

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.

Former Police Officer pleads guilty of Identity Theft

A former Philadelphia Police Officer admitted to illegally using another person’s identity to attempt to purchase a vehicle.

Instead of serving and protecting individuals, this officer  decided to take advantage of one.

• Story link from TheReporterOnline.com, posted on July 28, 2008 – http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19874472&BRD=2275&PAG=461&dept_id=635541&rfi=8

Rufus Harley, 51, of [...], Philadelphia, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of forgery and identity theft in connection with a February 2007 incident at the Sport Chrysler dealership in West Norriton.

Prosecutors alleged Harley used the Social Security number of an Erie woman to provide false information on the dealership’s credit application when he attempted to purchase a 2006 Chrysler 300 vehicle valued at $22,223 on Feb. 6, 2007.

Doctor’s office employee steals patient’s social security numbers

An employee of a local doctor’s office in Louisville, KY has been charged with stealing the social security number’s of patients, and opening credit cards in their names.

Your identity is not safe anywhere….

• Story link from local news station http://www.whas11.com/, posted on July 22, 2008 – http://www.whas11.com/news/local/stories/whas11_topstory_080722_medical_theft.7f8b533d.html
• Video link of story – http://www.whas11.com/video/whas11video-index.html?nvid=265786&shu=1

It’s proof that identify theft can strike at the places where you should feel most safe. Erika Bradford’s facing charges of ID theft after allegedly stealing patient’s social security numbers at the doctor’s office where she worked. Bradford then opened credit cards in the victim’s names.

Former morgage broker sentenced 4 yrs for Identity Theft

Another former mortgage broker, has been sentenced to 4 years of prison time for identity theft charges. A woman in Lee’s Summit, used the identities of at least 3 people to get mortgages in their names.

• Story link from kansascity.com, posted on July 15, 2008 – http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/706522.html

Kimberly M. Davis, 43, pleaded guilty in December, admitting that she used the identity information for three people, without their permission, to buy two homes in Lee’s Summit. She worked as a mortgage broker in Liberty and Gladstone from late 2003 through January 2005.