A 19-year-old Los Angeles man, who allegedly used a legitimate company’s name to trick 2,700 people into providing credit card and personal information over the Internet, was charged with identity theft.
Ryan Daniel Hovey pleaded innocent this afternoon to 14 counts of identity theft, along with 13 counts of access card fraud, two counts of grand theft and one count of attempted grand theft.
Hovey, who was arrested last Friday, was ordered held on $500,000 bail pending his next appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Nov. 9. Hovey allegedly collected the personal identifying information and access card numbers of about 2,200 people.
He used their personal and credit card information to make purchases of merchandise ranging from computer equipment to airline tickets, alleged Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey McGrath, head of the High Tech Crimes Unit.
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Federal authorities are investigating a Reno woman arrested on identity theft charges after she was stopped driving a stolen rental truck packed with stolen credit cards and checks, the Nevada Highway Patrol reported.
The U.S. Postal Service, Nevada Division of Investigations and NHP are investigating Michelle Anthony, 19, of Reno, said Trooper Chuck Allen, NHP spokesman. The expanded investigation involves out-of-state stolen credit cards and checks.
Anthony was stopped Oct. 25 by a trooper after she failed to stop at a stop sign at Sixth and West streets, Allen said. She had been driving a U-Haul truck with a spray-painted graffiti on its side. Allen said the truck had been stolen from a Reno service center, where it was supposed to be returned earlier that month.
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A quarter of Internet users have stopped making online purchases for fear of identity theft, according to a report issued by Consumer Reports WebWatch.
The report, issued last week, finds that 80 percent of Internet users are at least somewhat concerned that someone might steal their identity from the personal information available on the Web. Most Internet users, 86 percent, have made at least one change in their behavior because of fears of identity theft.
Of those who shop online, 29 percent say they have cut back on how often they buy products on the Internet. Thirty percent of users reveal that they have reduced their overall use of the Internet due to these fears, and 53 percent say they have stopped giving out personal information online, according to the report. More than half (54 percent) of those who shop online say they have become more likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user agreement before making a purchase.
College students are increasingly becoming victims of identity theft, prompting the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General to publicize the issue and crack down on crooks who use stolen information to fraudulently obtain financial aid.
Department of Education Inspector General John P. Higgins, Jr., offers a strong warning to students on how to protect themselves on a Web site devoted to the issue:”Protect your Social Security number and other personal information. Don’t let identity thieves rob you of your educational future!”
The issue was highlighted at the University recently by a security breach when the Housing Office compromised nearly 2,600 students’ Social Security numbers by accidentally storing the information on a public Web site. According to the Department of Education, 50 percent of grades nationally are posted by Social Security number.
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Forty-six state Attorneys General are calling on Congress to help protect consumers from identity theft by enacting national security breach and credit freeze legislation.
The proposed laws would require businesses entrusted with personal financial data to notify consumers if their company’s data files are breached and allow consumers to put a credit freeze on their accounts.
In the letter, the AGs point out that millions of consumers over the past year have been exposed to potential ID theft because of security breaches suffered by large financial and retail establishments.
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Someone stole a laptop computer containing more than 3,800 social security numbers from a billing office of the UT Medical Center.
A hospital spokeswoman says the software had password protection, and that it is unlikely anyone could access to the information.
Still, the medical center sent out letters to 3,800 patients who received care at some point in 2003, urging them to get some form of fraud alert should their personal information get in the hands of the wrong people.
This is the second time a computer with personal information has been taken from an office affiliated with UT, a trend that has increased with the increased use of laptop computers.
“There are some very talented hackers,” said Shane Neer of Access Systems, a company that focuses on computer protection. “I would definitely tell one of our clients not to put sensitive information on their laptop.”
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Papa John’s has beefed up security for its Web-based e-mail system after the pizza chain learned that internal e-mail and customer data had been exposed.
The leak at the Louisville, Ky.-based pizza chain made internal corporate e-mail and thousands of customer comments available to anyone with a Web browser. The customer comments were submitted between Sept. 29 and Nov. 7 and included names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of customers.
“It looks like there is no password protection on Papa John’s internal Web e-mail system,” said Richard Smith, an Internet privacy expert who reviewed the issue at the request of CNET News.com. “This sort of Web site privacy leak happens more than it should.”
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Ohio- A grand jury has declined to issue any indictments in a case where a woman’s identity was used without her permission during an undercover investigation at a strip club.
During the 2003 undercover operation at Total Xposure, state liquor agents confiscated the driver’s license and Social Security number of a Cincinnati woman to help another woman get a job as a stripper as part of a sting operation at the club.
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State officials on Friday began notifying 465,000 Georgians that they might be at risk of identity theft because of a government security breach detected in April.
Joyce Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Georgia Technology Authority, emphasized that officials had no evidence that any personal data had been used for fraudulent purposes. But she said officials are alerting 244,000 motorists and 221,000 retired teachers, state employees, school employees and others who participated in the state Health Benefits Plan in 2002 that a former GTA employee downloaded their personal information to his home computers.
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