There’s yet another update to the troubling case of Spyros Panos, who had been charged with stealing another physician’s identity to continue on his fraudulent way after losing his medical license for other crimes. A post on this site in 2018 provides some of the background and history. On October 30, the Southern District of…
Category: ID Theft
Data breaches upping ATO fraud ‘red flags’
Asha Barbaschow reports: The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has a “red flag” feature, which serves up a “ping” whenever an individual or business has been suspected of having fraudulent activity conducted against their name or if their account has been compromised. Facing Senate Estimates on Tuesday, ATO client engagement second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn explained that…
Security lapse exposes hundreds of addresses of Minnesotans infected with COVID-19
Jay Kolls reports: In April, Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order allowing the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to share addresses of COVID-19 patients with first responders across Minnesota. The governor imposed strict guidelines for sharing those addresses to protect the identity of Minnesotans with COVID-19. MDH and…
RCMP charge 2 Montreal men in cyberattacks at Canadian Tire, BMO and Simplii
CBC reports: The RCMP have laid charges against two Montrealers after an investigation into high-profile cyberattacks at Canadian Tire, Bank of Montreal and Simplii a few years ago. The RCMP said in a press release Thursday that Jacob Costanzo-Peterson and Félix Costanzo-Peterson have been charged with unauthorized use of a computer, identity theft and possession of a device…
IL Ex-Nursing Home Employee Used Patient’s ID To Pay Bills: Police
Lorraine Swanson reports: A Franklin Park woman is accused of stealing the identities of dozens of mostly elderly people. Anna Zur, 39, was arrested on Wednesday after a year-long investigation, where she was charged with felony counts of wire fraud and continuing a financial crimes enterprise, police said. When a daughter noticed fraudulent charges in…
Confessions of an ID Theft Kingpin, Parts I and II
Brian Krebs reports: At the height of his cybercriminal career, the hacker known as “Hieupc” was earning $125,000 a month running a bustling identity theft service that siphoned consumer dossiers from some of the world’s top data brokers. That is, until his greed and ambition played straight into an elaborate snare set by the U.S. Secret…