The mastermind of an identify theft ring who fled after being sentenced for his role in the scheme to steal personal and confidential credit report profiles of thousands of customers of Weichert Financial Services, Inc. pleaded guilty today to failure to surrender to federal prison. Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced that Ronald…
Category: Insider
Former Randstad branch manager sentenced for embezzlement, ID theft
A former branch manager for Randstad North America, an international staffing firm in Sandy Springs, Georgia, has been sentenced to serve 5 years, 1 month in federal prison on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. In addition, she has been ordered to pay $286,388.37 in restitution. Cynthia Whitehead, 44, of Atlanta, Georgia, was…
Misdirected Spyware Infects Ohio Hospital
Bob McMillan reports: It was a bad idea from the start, but even as bad ideas go, this one went horribly wrong. A a 38-year-old Avon Lake, Ohio, man is set to plead guilty to federal charges after spyware he allegedly meant to install on the computer of a woman he’d had a relationship with…
Court: Employee was authorized to access files (updated)
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision may be of interest to those who wonder about suing former employees for unauthorized to data. In LVRC Holdings V. Brekka, the court held: LVRC Holdings, LLC (LVRC) filed this lawsuit in federal district court against its former employee, Christopher Brekka, his wife, Carolyn Quain, and the couple’s…
Postal inspectors uncover MassMutual customer data during ID theft investigation
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (“MassMutual”) recently discovered that an insider had printouts of customer data that might have been used for fraudulent purposes. In a notification letter [pdf] to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office dated September 8, MassMutual Financial Group reported that they had been advised on August 3 by the U.S. Postal…
Former loan officer indicted for fraud and ID theft
A federal grand jury has indicted Emma Vigil, of McAllen, and charged her with five counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Vigil, 48, was arrested by FBI agents at her residence this morning and will be arraigned at a hearing this afternoon before…