Lisa Thompson reports:
More than 400 of the identities stolen in a massive Erie federal wire fraud case appear to have been lifted from the case records of New York City public assistance clients, a federal prosecutor said.
Federal investigators believe one of the Nigerian defendants recently indicted in Erie in a $10 million identity fraud scheme may have stolen personal information from client records he had access to as a New York City public assistance official.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold has gone to court to ask a judge to modify the conditions of release for the defendant, Adebola Mejule, so Mejule cannot return to work at his job as an eligibility specialist with the City of New York Human Resources Administration.
Read more on GoErie.com. It does not appear that HRA ever detected any breach on their own (if it was their breach). There does not appear to be any breach notification statement on HRA’s website, either.
When the defendants were charged in April, prosecutors alleged that the conspirators obtained stolen identity information on the Internet. It seems that further investigation has revised their claims as to the manners and means of the conspiracy.