| Identity Thief Frauds Stanford Shopping Center, Other Malls
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A San Francisco woman has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for identity theft in the purchases of $49,000 worth of items at 56 stores including a number of outlets at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Boleche Minks, 29, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose. Minks pleaded guilty before Ware in December 2004 to one count of identity theft. .
Web scams can bring holiday headaches
Just in time for Cyber Monday and the online holiday-shopping rush, high-tech Grinches are cranking up their fraud attacks with a new round of bogus e-mail, identity-theft experts say.
Have you won $2 million in a Christmas sweepstakes held by Coca-Cola in the United Kingdom? Can you make big bucks just by cashing checks for an Irish researcher, Chinese exporter or rich oil consultant in Dubai? Is there a problem with your account at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, eBay or PayPal?
No. But you might think so if you fall for some of the recent e-mail scams infesting the Internet.
.
Yuma lawmaker victim of ID theft
State Sen. Amanda Aguirre, who has made identity theft prevention one of her legislative priorities, says she became a victim of the crime earlier this month when a credit card of hers was used fraudulently. "My immediate thought was this couldn't be happening," Aguirre said. "It's a reality check that anyone can be a victim of identity theft." Aguirre said she received a call earlier this month on her cell phone from her credit card company, which wanted to confirm whether she had bought some shoes. The following day, she got another call asking whether she had bought what appeared to be clothing. Both transactions, which were made online, were done using her credit number. In total, the purchases amounted to more than $3,000. The purchases were ordered from stores in North Carolina and California and supposed to be mailed to addresses in those states.
Fired CTA worker indicted in theft of riders' credit information
A former Chicago Transit Authority worker accused of stealing riders' credit card numbers used them at local department stores, according to an indictment issued Thursday.
Miranda Smith, 22, of Chicago was arrested last month and was indicted on one count of aggravated identity theft, 12 counts of identity theft and eight counts of official misconduct.
While helping customers replenish CTA fare cards, Smith allegedly used printouts to steal information, including credit card numbers. Prosecutors said she used the numbers to buy items at stores and passed them to two Chicago men, one identified as her boyfriend, who used the numbers to make $2,200 in purchases at Nordstrom and $1,300 at Macy's.
.
Beware of e-mail scams this holiday season
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Just in time for Cyber Monday and the online holiday shopping rush, high-tech Grinches are cranking up their fraud attacks with a new round of bogus e-mail, identity-theft experts say.Have you won $2 million in a Christmas sweepstakes held by Coca-Cola in the United Kingdom? Can you make big bucks just by cashing checks for an Irish researcher, Chinese exporter or rich oil consultant in Dubai? Is there a problem with your account at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, eBay or PayPal?No. But you might think so if you fall for some of the recent e-mail scams infesting the Internet.And they always peak this time of year, as millions of shoppers spend more time on the Web. Online shopping has grown at a double-digit pace in recent years. More than 70 million are expected to surf the Web this year for presents.“We do see e-mail and phone scams picking up during the holiday season," said Linda Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a watchdog group based in San Diego.
|
