LifeLock Blog

Bogdan Vovk had his identity stolen by Randy Campbell

Bogdan Vovk came from the Ukraine in 1990 when Bogdan was only seven. He is Now 26 and married and his wife is 4 months pregnant. He and his wife were planning on purchasing a house when Vovk started to get strange letters in the mail.

Vovk first received a thank you card from a jewelry shop thanking him for the purchase of a Rolex watch and a ring. Vovk had never purchased a Rolex watch and had never been to the Jewelry store in question. Vovk then received a letter from Nordstrom denying his credit application because of too many inquiries. At this point Vovk knew something was wrong and he called the Jewelry shop only to find out that someone with a drivers license and credit card with his name on it purchased the watch a couple weeks ago.

Vovk did something you wouldn’t expect he used an online credit report to find what other stuff the thief was doing on his credit. He used this information to get the phone number from one of the fraudulent credit applications. Vovk called the number not expecting someone to pickup. The phone rang and surprisingly the id thief picked up the phone and the conversation went something like this.

Vovk – “Can I speak to Bogdan Vovk?”
Id thief – “Who’s asking?”
Vovk – . “This is Dan from ABC Credit Reporting Agency.”
ID thief – “What’s it regarding?” asked the man.
Vovk – “I just want to verify your address,”
ID thief  – The stranger recited Vovk’s Auburn address.
Vovk – “To be honest with you, I’m the real Bogdan Vovk.”
ID thief  – No you’re not. I am!” and he hung up

He then sent him a text message saying “Can you please stop? You’ve done enough. Please tell me where you got your information?” The ID theft wrote back and said he had purchased it from a cell phone Kiosk in Renton, Washington. Apparently the ID thief was told the ID was that of a dead Russian immigrant and was 100% clean.

After the police got involved they tracked the ID thief to Portland, Oregon. Randy Campbell had stolen the identity of not only Vovk but from a man from Texas as well. He was living in an apartment that was registered to one of the stolen identities. Campbell also used the information to buy a car, open bank accounts and obtain credit, buy watches, jewelry and electronics at multiple retailers in Portland. He was then charged with 22-counts of alleging theft, forgery and identity theft. He plead not guilty to all the charges.

I think Vovk was brave to confront this guy on his own, it as least makes for an interesting identity theft story. It’s a scary thing when ID thieves use the identities for everything from houses to cars to credit cards. It makes it really difficult to catch them because police don’t know who they are looking for and nothing is put in their real name. Vovk was lucky they caught him before he took off never to be seen again.

A woman that lives in Bangor Maine by the name of Mary L. Landry stole the identity of another woman named Mary E. Landry. Landry used her position at FairPoint Communications, then Verizon, to obtain Mary E. Landry’s social security number and personal information. She then used the information to apply for several credit cards. Landry was unaware that some of the information she used was incorrect so some of the credit card companies rejected her applications. The id theft victim found out about the identity theft because a credit card company informed her that someone had attempted to take out a credit card in her name.

By the time the id theft victim figured out what was happened the identity thief had already charged 4,500 onto a Chase Bank Visa card. The identity thief had already made two payments on the card an U.S. Attorney James Moore told the judge that she made payments to increase her credit limit.

Unfortunately for the identity thief the person’s identity that she stole was Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, the highest-ranking female in the U.S. Coast Guard. The Judge in the id theft case said it was very unlucky to have stolen Mary E. Landry’s identity seeing how her identity is a matter of national security. As a requirement of her “top-secret” security clearance, Adm. Landry, the Coast Guard’s director of governmental and public affairs, is required to have no bad debt.

Mary L. Landry was sentenced to three years for the identity theft. She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release after her sentence. She will not be allowed to have a credit card unless her probation officer approves it.

I guess the moral of the story is don’t steal the identity of someone important. Make sure your victim is really unimportant before stealing their identity.

Captain Jason LaSart, of the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Department worked a lot of identity theft cases during his time on the Minnesota Crime Task Force, and he has a lot of stories to tell.

One of them is about a woman in her 60s who filled out a Medicare supplemental health insurance application with her medical information, name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and bank account numbers.

Three months later she began getting disturbing calls and letters from people who said they worked for bill collectors. She always paid her bills on time and had heard warnings about telephone scammers bent on identity theft, so she tore up the letters and hung up on the callers.

Six months after she put the application in her mailbox and raised the little red flag she learned she’d become an ID theft victim–someone in Florida used her information to open at least eight credit card accounts and maxed them out.

The insurance company never received her application. LaSart believes someone stole it from her mailbox and sold her information over the Internet.

So how can this kind of theft be avoided?

Never leave outgoing mail in an unlocked home mailbox. Replace yours with one that locks, or take outgoing mail to a United State Postal Service box.

Personal and financial information is commonly bought, sold and traded over the Internet. Visit LifeLock.com to learn more about their eRecon service that scours the Internet for customers’ information so thieves can be stopped before any damage is done.

Enroll using the LifeLock promotion code DEFENSE and pay only $9 a month for the identity theft protection services chosen by nearly 1.5 million other Americans.

The Identity Theft Resource Center released the results this week of their most recent data breach study, an analysis of data breaches publicly reported so far this year. Little of the news is good, but two of the ITRC’s findings are especially alarming.

Perhaps the most disturbing discovery is that of the roughly 250 reported breaches, only one of the victims could say the stolen information was encrypted.

Almost every state has laws compelling entities to report data breaches, but apparently even the fear of public disclosure and bad publicity still isn’t enough to make businesses and other organizations protect the data they hold.

“It’s a dual problem here undeterred by law or common sense,” said Linda Foley, co-founder of the ITRC. “You’d think if all these organizations have to notify, that they would take some steps to make sure their data doesn’t get exposed in the first place.”

Another surprising finding is that employees are stealing records at the same rate as hackers. Together, the two types of attacks are responsible for 36.4% of the roughly 250 data breaches reported publicly this year as of June 12.

The only good news to be found in the study is that the total number of data breaches is down by roughly 30% from the same time last year when 342 breaches had already been reported.

Unfortunately, even that slight ray of sunshine is dimmed by the fact that at least 12 million businesses and consumers are affected by this year’s data breaches, and the total is probably far greater than that; fewer than half of the entities that reported breaches revealed the number of victims affected.

coolaggregator.com

Online gamers in recent years aren’t just your typical teens playing games online. Many gamers are well into their twenties with credit cards and full time jobs. As any seasoned gamer knows that in order to play games online you have to direct the right traffic through your router to the correct gaming device. Whether it’s an xbox or computer the principle is the same. It’s easier for hackers to gain access if they know where to look.  What’s the harm in this? Your Xbox and computer have private information stored on them, such as credit card numbers and your full name, information that could lead to an identity theft or credit fraud.

The more you play online with people the more comfortable you become with them. There is a level of trust that is built which could end in disaster if someone was to get you to reveal private information about yourself.

There has been a growing threat of identity theft that has been lingering over the heads of online gamers. Hackers have been known to steal online currency such as the Microsoft Points that are used to purchase items from the Xbox live marketplace.  Gaining personal information from the gamer thieves have also stolen credit card information and have even applied for credit cards using the gamers information. There is also a market for the buying and selling of login information, which has been a one-stop shop for online thieves.

So remember don’t give out personal information that could be used to steal your identity. Be careful what you put on your online profile and don’t include anything that could be used to their advantage.

In the last 12 months 8.1 million people have fallen victim to identity theft. The total economic lost was approximately 45 billion dollars. A number that I feel we can reduce if we only took identity theft more seriously. People seem not to realize that documents that have personal information on them should be kept locked away. If you no longer need certain documents they need to be disposed of properly. Shredding documents is an easy and fast way to rid you of sensitive information. If you own a company and dispose large amounts of information at once you can hire companies to dispose of the information for you.

The city of Chicago is having its 4th annual Shredding Day also known as the “Shred it & forget it.” On June 20th at the United Center LOT E there will be 10 shredding trucks that will be on hand to shred your documents for free. There will be a limit of 10 boxes of documents per person. Last year 550 cars stopped to shred their documents totaling 65,000 pounds of paper.

I applaud Chicago’s efforts to help people destroy sensitive documents properly. It’s important especially to small business to protect themselves as well as their customers from identity theft or the improper use of the sensitive documents.

Some people and businesses loose their personal information because they have too much of it. It’s not fun nor is it easy to dispose of large amounts of documents. So people procrastinate and don’t get it done. So what should you keep and what should you shred.
You should keep seven years of tax returns. The IRS has three years from the tax file date to file and audit and 6 years challenge a claim. So a good rule of thumb is to keep seven years of tax returns and supporting documents.
Keep paychecks for 1 year, and your bank statements and cancelled checks for one year. Bills should also be kept for one year or at least until the check has been returned.
You should always keep your birth certificates, social security cards, insurance policies, titles, and wills in a safety deposit box or in some other safe place.
If you don’t need a document shred it. Remember that all your personal documents are an identity theft liability. Keep as few as need for taxes and documentation. This will help you reduce the risk of someone misusing your information or using it to steal your identity.

A common security tip is that you have someone stay at your home while attending a funeral or wake when a family member dies. The suggestion is intended to thwart robbers who follow obituaries and funeral schedules and break into family members’ homes.

Lorraine Getchius followed that advice when her husband died and had Donna Lee Heddy, her friend of 25 years, stay at her house during the wake.

Heddy admitted this week she was a fox guarding Getchius’ henhouse—an impostor who committed identity theft against a grieving widow.

Heddy confessed that she stole her friend’s credit cards and used her name and Social Security number to open new credit card accounts, according to Lehigh Valley (PA) prosecutor Lara Mammana.

She used those accounts and Getchius’ name to buy $3,000 worth of goods and services from Verizon Wireless, Dish Network, Shop NBC, Chadwicks and five other businesses, but had the goods delivered to her own address.

Though most identity theft victims never know who attacked them, 43% of respondents to an Identity Theft Resource Center survey said they knew the person who stole their identities.

• In 19% of the cases, the perpetrator was a relative of the ID theft victim.
• In 14% of the cases, the perpetrator was an employee of a business that held personal information of the ID theft victim.
• In 14% of the cases, the perpetrator was a friend or roommate of the ID theft victim.
• In 4% of the cases, the perpetrator was a coworker of the ID theft victim.
• In 4% of the cases, the perpetrator was an ex-spouse or significant other of the ID theft victim.
• In 1% of the cases, the perpetrator was a neighbor of the ID theft victim.

Identity theft is a horrible thing. No one wants to deal with pain and anguish that an identity theft can cause. An identity theft can completely ruin your credit to the point you can’t get a credit card, ascertain a loan, or anything else that may require a credit check. Many apartment communities require a credit check to ensure you will pay your rent. If someone has stolen your identity then you may not be able to find a place to live.

This is when identity theft can really take hold of your life, when it prevents you from living your life the way you want to it becomes a huge strain on you. Some people forget that your identity is more than just your credit. When someone has the ability to become you on paper they can cause damage up and beyond your credit score.

If someone commits a crime using your identity then you could be held responsible until you are able to convince the police you are not a criminal. I have read stories of people being put in jail for several days because someone stole their identity and committed crimes with it. This is not something you want on your record. If something like this were to happen to you, one would have to clean up not only their credit but also your crime rap sheet.

Medical identity theft is something that is becoming more and more popular. People who don’t have insurance or illegal immigrants have been stealing identities and getting medical attention for free for years. They get the medical attention needed and you get stuck with the bill. Not only that but if the identity theft lives near you, your medical record may get mixed with theirs which can cause confusion. What if your allergic to something the thief is not? Or what if you have different blood types? This could cause serious problems when you are in need the most. Medical institutions do their best to prevent this kind of mix-up but no system is perfect.

Protecting your identity is key to preventing these situations from happening. Keep a good eye on your credit score and catch problems as they occur and solve them before they get worse. Remember by protecting your identity you are also protecting your future.

I still don’t know the origin of the name “Cannon to the Wiz,” but I’m happy to know the ringleader of the nationwide pickpocket and ID theft ring has been arrested along with nine of his cohorts.

Leonardo Darnell Zanders, 39, was arrested in April in Detroit and has been pegged as the lead defendant in a new federal conspiracy case.

The Cannon to the Wiz is thought to have as many as 200 members, many of whom travel to events attracting large crowds where they can steal wallets.

According to the Michigan State Police, the Final Four playoffs in Detroit last April was one of their venues. And, apparently Donna Pendergast, an assistant district attorney, was one of at least seven victims they hit that night.

“I was a nervous wreck,” Pendergast said. “All I could think of was a house being bought in my name. And you would never know about that until you end up with a bill collector on your doorstep.”

The feds started looking closely at Zanders in September 2007, when he was caught trying to Fed Ex three packages containing stolen personal checks, ID, bank cards and other documents. The loot was traced to 14 victims in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Zanders got away that time, but the feds got a lot closer to him when they searched his house and found documents for 36 victims in nine states and D.C. They then searched the house of alleged ring member Clyde Austin Gray (A.K.A. “Big Head” and “Poochie”) and found documents for another 85 victims.

The Identity Theft Resource Center released their sixth annual retrospective report on ID theft this week, “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2008.”

This year’s report provides a lot of pertinent information lacking in previous years’ reporting. For instance, this year’s report broke 0ut subcategories for loans taken out by identity thieves, revealing that the most common type of loan taken out was mortgages or second mortgages (33%).

This most recent report also provides new information about medical identity theft and how victims discovered the theft. In nearly all cases, victims discovered the thefts when they received bills or calls from bill collectors for medical services they never received. More alarming, though, is that 33% discovered the crime when they found out there was someone else’s medical information in their records.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) estimated last year that in every schoolroom there is at least one child victim of identity theft. Sadly, the crime probably won’t be discovered for many years, and the younger the victim, the longer the crime will go undetected, which explains why 17% of child identity theft crimes begin before the victim is even a year old. The perpetrators of child identity theft are most often children’s parents, stepparents or other family members.

In light of the new information in the ITRC report, you owe it to yourself and your family to learn more about how LifeLock protects their members. Visit LifeLock.com for more information. When you’re ready to enroll, use the LifeLock promo code DEFENSE and to get the absolute lowest price available.