Posts Tagged ‘ID theft’
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Father arrested for using dead son’s identity
It goes against the laws of nature for parents to have to bury their children. But, that’s what David Frank Pflegl had to do in 1987 as the survivor of an auto accident that killed his 19-year-old son, David Frank Pflegl II. It is probably one of the hardest most painful things for any parent to do. However, the senior Pflegl, 63, found a way to keep his son’s memory alive: he committed ID theft, forgery and communication fraud using his dead son’s identity, according to his December indictment.
Pflegl was arrested a week ago in Utah on the identity theft and related charges. Pflegl used his son’s identity to obtain a $140,000 mortgage in Lindon, Utah. He also had driver’s licenses in Oregon and Utah. Additionally, he held a passport in his deceased son’s name—a crime that resulted in a federal investigation by the State Department. Oregon investigators and the Utah Department of Public Safety participated in the identity theft investigation. (more…)
Tags: David Frank Pflegle, David Frank Pflelge II, ID theft, Identity Theft
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Identity theft and tax season
It’s tax season. It’s an annual occurrence, happening at the same time of year, every year. And in observance, here’s our annual phishing, scamming and identity theft warning with tips for avoiding getting taken to the cleaners … by anyone but the IRS.
Your mailbox
- If you don’t already have one, buy a locking mailbox before your W2 is delivered. Just think how easy it is to commit identity theft with just that one piece of stolen mail.
(more…)
Tags: avoid identity theft, ID theft, Identity Theft, identity theft protection, Tax season
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Friday, January 15th, 2010
Health Net data breach prompts attorney general’s “historic lawsuit”
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said last November that he was “outraged and appalled” upon learning of Health Net’s massive data breach and their keeping it hush-hush for six months. He acted on those feelings this week by filing suit against the insurer and its new owners, United Health Group and Oxford Health Plans.
The data breach occurred May 2009 when a hard drive containing the information of 1.5 million customers went missing. Records were for the period 2002 through 2009. Roughly 446,000 of the members are from Connecticut.
Blumenthal’s lawsuit asserts Health Net gave its employees inadequate supervision and training on appropriate maintenance, use and disclosure of protected health information.
The company explained the six-month lag time between their awareness of the breach and their notifying state officials by saying the time was necessary to complete a “detailed forensic review.” Kroll, a computer forensic consulting firm hired to complete the investigation determined the information wasn’t encrypted or protected in any way from access or viewing. (more…)
Tags: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Data breach, Health Net, HIPAA, ID theft, Identity Theft, Medical Identity Theft, Oxford Health Plan, United Health Group
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Saturday, December 26th, 2009
It’s impossible to write about the Red Flag Rules without an apologetic “stop me if you’ve heard this one before” preface. So don’t shoot the messenger, but the deadline for the Feds’ identity-protecting Red Flag Rules has been delayed. The newest deadline—the fifth—replaces the January 1 deadline with one of June 1, 2010.
Congress created the program in 2003 in an attempt to stem the tide of identity theft by forcing creditors to use a common sense approach to identity theft prevention. It was originally slated to take effect in November 2008.
From its inception the rules have met with formidable pushback from the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association and the nation’s bankers, each group taking exception to the FTC’s interpretation of “creditor.” (more…)
Tags: FTC, ID theft, identity theft prevention, identity theft protection, Red Flag Rules
Posted in Uncategorized, identity theft protection | No Comments »
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Contrary to popular belief, not all of Santa’s elves are jovial, industrious toymakers; there are also evil elves that take temporary holiday retail jobs to commit ID theft and credit fraud. And, they’ll steal your identity in less time than it takes Santa to slip down the chimney.
Big retail stores hire as many as 50 new employees during the holiday season, and many of them don’t get vetted as thoroughly as year-round workers. Adding to the ID theft risk is the fact that these additional employees aren’t management—they double the number of employees management typically oversees.
So, how can shoppers protect themselves from the evil ID theft elves? (more…)
Tags: Bad Santa, holiday shopping, ID theft, ID theft prevention, ID theft risk, ID thieves, Identity Theft
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Sunday, November 29th, 2009
The Minnesota Department of Commerce said you can add ID theft, forgery and theft to the long list or reasons for hating bill collectors. And, if you wondered where all that money went when you closed on your house, it might be that your title company kept the premium.
The Department of Commerce investigated bill collector Lee Hanna and HS and Associates LLC, a collection agency, and alleges that Hanna committed ID theft by using customer information to open a credit card account, forged checks with the same customer’s name and transferred client money from the company’s trust accounts and operating accounts for personal expenses, including bar tabs and rent.
The credit card account opened by ID theft was charged $14,389.91; the two forged checks totaled $6,500 and the client money inappropriately used for personal expenses was in the amount of $19,000, according to the department. (more…)
Tags: Andrew Morris, bill collector, collection agency, First Financial Services Inc., forgery, HS and Associates, ID theft, Identity Theft, Lee Hanna, Minnesota Department of Commerce, Morris Abstract and Title Inc.
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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Adeniyi Adeyemi, a computer technician at the Bank of New York Mellon, was indicted on 149 counts of grand larceny, ID theft, money laundering, scheme to defraud, computer tampering and unlawful possession of personal identification information.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office accused 27-year-old Adeyemi of committing ID theft against more than 150 of his coworkers at the bank and using their identities to steal more than $1.1 million from charities and non-profit organizations over a period of more than seven years.
The ID theft took place from November 2001 to April 2009. Adeyemi allegedly opened more than 30 accounts with banks and brokerage firms in the names of his co-workers, and deposited stolen funds, according to the DA’s office. He also hijacked their online banking profiles and wired money stolen from their bank accounts into other fraudulently opened bank accounts. (more…)
Tags: Adeniyi Adeyemi, Bank of New York Mellon, ID theft, Identity Theft
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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
I’ve decided to do most of my Christmas shopping from home this year, using only well-known sites to make sure I don’t become an ID theft or credit card fraud victim. The only thing that will get me to the mall or the big box stores is the Black Friday bargains. Other than that, I’m doing the rest of my shopping over the Internet from the comfort of my home office. Unfortunately, while this strategy will get me the best bargains, it also presents ID theft risks.
To get the best deals, shoppers have to get in line for a coupon at 3 A.M., and then wait till 5 A.M. to rush the doors with hundreds of other shoppers. Once they have their loot in their carts, they’ll wait in line again to check out. It’s the perfect opportunity for pickpockets who take advantage of the mayhem to steal wallets for credit card fraud and ID theft. (more…)
Tags: ID theft, identity theft prevention, identity theft protection, pickpocketing, pickpockets
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Shopping for the kids on your list is definitely more fun, but you can’t put it off any longer: it’s time to figure out what to buy for all those hard-to-buy-for people on your holiday shopping list. Well, lucky you, I have some tips on what to buy—and perhaps more importantly—what not to buy.
I know that it’s tempting to give up and resort to gag gifts after several years of buying bad gifts despite your good intentions. Resist. Let’s start there with the list of what not to buy for hard-to-buy-for people:
Do not buy
- Wind-up boxing nuns,
- Racing grandma and grandpa,
- Reindeer that poop candy, or
- Singing bass plaque.
- Do not buy gift certificates for elderly relatives; they don’t need anything from the mall, don’t want to go shopping, don’t have anyplace to put it and really shouldn’t be driving anyhow.
The list of what to buy for hard-to-buy-for people is shorter.
Tags: bad gift ideas, boxing nuns, Christmas gifts, Christmas gifts for hard to buy for people, gag gifts, gift ideas for hard to buy for people, Hard to buy for, holiday shopping, HoneyBaked Ham, ID theft, Identity Theft, LifeLock, pooping reindeer, singing bass plaque, Williams-Sonoma
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Unemployment topped 10% in October, and the holiday season is upon us. Combine the two and you have a lot of people trying to looking for jobs. Sad to say, there’s also a whole lot of ID theft going on.
Most ID theft scams targeting job seekers fall are either phishing attacks or bogus job listings on legitimate job search websites.
The phishing attempts are emails describing job opportunities with more details or an application available if the recipient will only click on the included link. NEVER CLICK ON THE LINK! Clicking on the link enables the senders to install malware that can steal financial or personal information. In some cases, the linked site looks so legitimate; job seekers will complete an application, thereby voluntarily providing the scammers with all the information they need to commit ID theft. (more…)
Tags: ID theft, ID theft scam, Identity Theft, job seekers, scam, scammers
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