Haldan Kirsch reports: Federal investigators in Western Pennsylvania have uncovered a national identity theft scheme that has been in operation for nearly a decade. Thieves used stolen IDs to open bank accounts, obtain credit cards and file fake tax returns that caused the IRS to pay millions in fraudulent funds. Five suspects from New York,…
Category: ID Theft
PA: Stolen debit card information in Bradford County (updated)
Haley Burton reports: Pennsylvania State Police in Towanda said more than 200 customers at two banks had their debit card information compromised and used at stores nationwide. Customers at PS Bank located at 76 Church Street and Community Bank N.A. located at 426 State Street, both in Wyalusing, were impacted, according to a news release…
Healthcare professionals in North Carolina victims of tax refund fraud
Last May, I reported on a breach affecting patients at Piedmont Healthcare and Presbyterian Anesthesia Associates in North Carolina whose website host, E-dreamz, had been hacked. At the time, I noted that not only patient data but some employee information was involved for Piedmont. Today, Kathryn Burcham of WSOC-TV reports that dozens of Piedmont Healthcare employees…
Court Ventures/U.S. InfoSearch/Experian breach resulted in ID theft – Krebs
Brian Kreb presents some evidence that the breach involving Court Ventures/U.S. InfoSearch/Experian* (discussed elsewhere on this blog) did result in harm to individuals, depite an Experian executive telling Congress in December 2013 that there had been no reports of harm from the breach. Of course, it never made any sense to any of us that…
Tax refund fraud scheme affecting health care professionals reported in multiple states
The Indiana State Medical Association (ISMA) has issued this e-report: Based on reports from physicians and accountants, the ISMA previously issued several email alerts about physician identity theft and tax fraud at the federal level. The ISMA has now learned the Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) has been investigating identity theft and tax return scams…
Update: As many as 27,000 University of Pittsburgh Medical Center employees affected by data breach
Adam Smeltz and Luis Fábregas report another update to a breach affecting employees of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Personal information about as many as 27,000 UPMC workers may have been compromised in a data breach and identify theft scheme that the hospital system first confirmed in February, UPMC officials said Thursday. New…