Tim McGlone reports: A Smithfield woman pleaded guilty today to three federal charges, admitting that she stole the identities of customers from her farm equipment store to obtain more than 80 loans worth $1.7 million. Linda T. Rowland, 60, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges. Read more…
Category: U.S.
Lax document disposal leaves privacy in shreds
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…
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…
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…
TX: Private information lands in dumpster near Interstate 10
Sarah Forgany reports: Imagine your most private information falling into the wrong hands. That’s what some people dealt with after nearly 75 legal files were found in a dumpster off Interstate 10 near Boerne. It only took a few minutes to realize the paperwork was no trash. Rather, it included information like peoples’ lives, names,…