Federal prosecutors have charged a Nelnet [National Education Loan Network] employee with fraud after she allegedly used customers’ information to apply for personal loans. Jovita D. Benford, 23, of Lincoln was charged with unauthorized computer access Monday in U.S. District Court. A screen recording of her computer by Nelnet found she completed pre-paid credit card applications…
Category: Insider
NJ: Four charged with stealing identities; two were DMV employees
Two state motor vehicle clerks and two businessmen from Burlington County have been charged with stealing identities from government records and selling them for as little as $200. Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr. announced the arrests yesterday, saying the busts were the result of seven-month investigation at two New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission…
Community agency worker is accused of selling Holocaust survivors’ ID information
Jay Weaver reports: Identity theft may have reached a new low over the weekend when an employee of a Jewish community organization was arrested on charges of selling Holocaust survivors’ identity information for a sum of $1,000. Crystal Thorne, 23, who worked as a coordinator at the Jewish Community Services of South Florida office in…
Maybe we should prohibit school districts from maintaining electronic databases
Yes, I know that idea would send us back in time, but yet another ridiculous data breach involving a public school’s system being hacked by students has me pulling my hair out and wishing for more regulation or something. WXPI in Pennsylvania reports: Investigators said the hacking began in May on two students’ home computers….
McDonald’s hat trick of the week: three cases involving insider breaches make the media
It looks like McDonald’s made a media hat trick this week in terms of dishonest employees and card fraud or ID theft. First, employees in Illinois and Washington were caught skimming customers’ debit and credit cards, and now Dave Gibson reports on a case from Georgia: On Wednesday, Eva Ramos, 36, a former McDonald’s restaurant…
Owner of tax preparation business pleads guilty to using stolen identity information for fraudulent tax refunds
Marsha Elmore of Wetumpka, Ala., the owner of a tax preparation business called Community Tax, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges related to her use of stolen identities to fraudulently obtain tax refunds, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Elmore pleaded guilty to one count each of filing a false claim, wire…