What you need to know about: IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION AND RECOVERY
THE CUMMINGS CASE
“ Philip A. Cummings, 35, of Cartersville, Georgia, who provided vast amounts of personal data to his accomplices in the identity theft scheme, told a nonplussed U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels that he "didn't know the magnification" of the crime. Prosecutors say the enormous fraud scheme victimized tens of thousands of people, with losses somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. From the middle of 1999 through August of 2000, Cummings worked as a help-desk worker at Teledata Communications, Inc., a Long Island computer software company that gives banks computerized access to databases containing credit information. Prosecutors say Cummings sold the passwords and codes for downloading consumer credit reports to an unidentified co-conspirator. Tens of thousands of credit reports were stolen as a result. Cummings received about $30 for each stolen report. The pilfered data was distributed to approximately 20 accomplices, who then sold it to a nationwide network of criminals. Under the terms of a plea bargaining agreement, Cummings could be sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in federal prison on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and fraud in connection with identification documents, say federal prosecutors. Cummings has also agreed to forfeit any property he might have obtained as a result of his crimes.”
SKIMMERS
“Thieves use handheld magnetic card readers that can be bought on the Internet or improvised to glean personal information off the magnetic strip on credit and debit cards. Sometimes the data are transferred to other magnetic strips to make counterfeit credit cards. The culprits have included waiters, gas station attendants, and store clerks paid by organized-crime rings. Some private automatic-teller machines also have been rigged to skim account numbers and PINs.”
|