Mechele Cooper reports: Kennebec Savings Bank has informed 1,500 customers their debit card numbers may have been compromised in a security breach. Bank officials blamed the breach on credit card companies’ failure to police the merchants that use their cards. The breach was reported to bank officials by MasterCard. Mark Johnston, bank president and CEO,…
Category: U.S.
WA: Tobacco shop owner sentenced in debit card scam
A former Redmond tobacco shop owner was sentenced to 33 months in prison Friday for skimming information from hundreds of customers’ credit and debit cards, then siphoning money, federal officials said. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez also sentenced Redmond resident Hrant “Mike” Aslanyan, 38, to five years of supervised release. He ordered him to pay…
Four defendants sentenced for $15 million tax fraud conspiracy
From the USDOJ press release: KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that four more defendants have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. The wire fraud scheme involved stealing the identities…
The missing “how” in media reports
The Associated Press reports that Tasheika Brown pleaded guilty in New Orleans to conspiracy to use stolen credit card numbers to buy cellular telephone equipment and airtime. The story does not indicate how she got the stolen credit card numbers. Unfortunately, we seem to be seeing an increasing number of media reports that refer to…
Blaine Man Pleads Guilty to Sabotaging Former Employer’s Computer System
Slightly off-topic because no PII seems to have been involved, but suppose he had decided to capture transactions instead of just crashing the system? A 21-year-old Blaine man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in connection with sabotaging his former employer’s computer system after being terminated. David Ernest Everett Jr. pleaded guilty to one count…
NY policeman plunders US terror watchlist
Dan Goodin reports: A New York City Police Department sergeant has admitted he illegally obtained a name contained in an FBI terrorist watchlist and gave it to an acquaintance to use in a child custody case. Haytham Khalil, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge stemming from the unauthorized access and dissemination of information from the…