A La Mesa tax preparer was convicted Thursday of 32 felony counts related to his business, including identity theft and tax, Social Security and Medi-Cal fraud. Saleh Mahmoud Zahran, 50, was found guilty by a jury of the charges following a two-week trial in U.S. District Court in San Diego. His wife, 35- year-old Maysa…
Category: Insider
(follow-up) Can he claim incompetent counsel?
Brett Matteson Jr., who represented himself when he was on trial for ID theft, was sentenced today to 37 years and 8 months in prison. He had been convicted of 48 counts of identity theft, 48 counts of unlawfully getting credit-card information and nine counts of making fake driver’s licenses. Matteson allegedly took advantage of…
ER worker accused of stealing dying man’s credit cards
This is not the first time we’ve heard about hospital workers stealing dying patients’ credit cards or information, but it is nonetheless distressing. Candice Ferrette reports on a case at Westchester Medical Center in NY, where a patient care technician in the emergency room has been accused of stealing credit cards from a dying plane…
Woman charged with stealing patients’ identities
Chuck Weber reports: Detectives have arrested a West Palm Beach-area woman, accusing her of stealing personal information of diabetes patients. Tuesday Palm Beach County Sheriff’s detectives arrested 35-year old Erika Morales, and served a search warrant at her home. Detective Bill Griffin said Morales stole identities of clients of the medical supply company, Diabetes Direct…
The evidence says “woof”
Okay, we know that law enforcement will seize merchandise purchased with stolen credit cards or obtained fraudulently. But this is the first ID theft case I’ve ever heard of where they seized a puppy. George Warren reports that a Yorkshire terrier puppy named “Treasure” was seized as part of the proceeds of an ID theft…
(update) UWMC patient financial information compromised
More on a breach reported here last week, this from Natalie Johnson: In early February, an employee of the National Collection Office (NCO) Financial Systems Inc., a debt-collection agency that UW Medicine contracts with, violated security and compromised at least 50 confirmed contacts, and as many as 80 more are being investigated. “UW Medicine was…