AP reports: The chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle has been charged with stealing immigrants’ identities. Raphael A. Sanchez, who resigned from the agency effective Monday, faces one count of aggravated identity theft and another of wire fraud in a charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors with the…
Category: ID Theft
California DMV worker used driver’s license records to steal identities, federal government says
Sam Stanton reports: A worker at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, which is the subject on an ongoing federal bribery probe into the misuse of department computer files, has been accused of using driver’s license records in an elaborate mail and identity theft case. Sarah Laray Sandoval, 39, was a DMV employee with access to…
Biometric data theft: Two more arrested in India
Yagnesh Bharat Mehta reports that there have been two more arrests in a case previously noted on this site. The case involves the theft of biometric data for illegally acquiring food grains meant for registered beneficiaries of the the National Food Security Act. It’s really not clear (to me or law enforcement, it seems) how…
OH: Suspects stole records, identities and cars in 33-count indictment
Daniel Barnett reports: The Franklin County Grand Jury has returned a 33-count RICO indictment against four suspects on charges that include theft, identity fraud, and breaking and entering. A press release from the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s office says that Jonathan Charles Knapp, 35, and Justin Lee Goins, 26, stole information out of storage units…
Indian police arrest criminals selling and trading biometric Aadhaar data
By now, my regular readers have likely all seen reports of data breaches where biometric data were stolen or hacked, such as the OPM breach where 5.6 million employees’ fingerprints were also acquired by suspected state actors or state-sponsored hackers. But a news report out of India shows how biometric data may be part of…
Conspirator Who Hacked Mortgage Brokers Sentenced in Computer Hacking and Wire Fraud Scheme
From a January 19 press release from DOJ: Victor Alejandro Fernandez was sentenced in federal court today to 129 months in custody for his involvement in a conspiracy to steal and misuse mortgage customers’ sensitive personal information. Fernandez was charged along with Jason Ray Bailey, John Gordon Baden and Joel Nava with conspiracy to commit…