Mary Mitchell reports: Imagine the anxiety of discovering that the information you divulged to one of the city’s leading bankruptcy firms was not kept confidential. Last month, hundreds of pieces of sensitive documents that were provided to the law firm of Robert J. Semrad & Associates, also known as DebtStoppers USA, ended up in a…
Author: Dissent
Man who stole credit cards, electronics at UVa avoids prison
Brian McNeill reports: A 27-year-old man who stole credit cards and electronics at the University of Virginia will avoid prison time and instead be enrolled in a diversion program in Harrisonburg. Joshua Alan Lafferty pleaded guilty in June 2009 to five counts of breaking and entering, five counts of grand larceny, four counts of credit…
WA: Fast food customers’ identities stolen by worker, say police
Three people are charged in an alleged identity theft ring, skimming credit and debit card information from fast food customers at a Tukwila Wendy’s restaurant. Maria Elena DeHoyos-Ortiz, 33, Linzy Jerome Hopkins, 27, and Ricardo Ricky Ramacho, II, 28, are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit identity theft. King County Sheriff’s Detectives say…
15 released pending trial in massive ID theft in Turkey
Fifteen people charged with selling computer programs offering illegally acquired identity information on nearly the country’s entire population were released Wednesday pending trial in Istanbul. Police announced Tuesday the cracking of the ring that had been stealing Turks’ identity information, including their names, addresses and telephone numbers. […] The Hürriyet reporter wrote that had he…
AU: Personal data ‘left open to frauds’
Richard Willingham reports: The security of personal information held by the state government is inadequate, leaving it at a heightened risk of being stolen and misused by frauds, a report has found. An Auditor-General’s report into government departments, released yesterday, said access to confidential personal data was too widespread and increased the risk of identity…
Ukrainian Carding King ‘Maksik’ Was Lured to Arrest
Kim Zetter dips into Verizon’s new report and relays details of how Yastermskiy was eventually captured and arrested: A Ukrainian carder who earned more than $11 million selling credit and debit card data stolen from top U.S. retailers was lured to a meeting in Turkey in 2007 where he was arrested by local authorities, according…