Linda Norris has never been arrested on prostitution charges, but she was arrested July 7 for violating the probation conditions of a 2004 prostitution charge. Colleen Wehunt, a convicted prostitute and drug user, has been using Norris’ identity for years.

And, unfortunately, Norris’ story isn’t uncommon: 56% of the ID theft victims in the Identity Theft Resource Center’s annual Aftermath Survey said their impostors were arrested, booked or arraigned using their victims’ name. One-third of the respondents said they now have criminal records because of crimes committed by the impostors.

When Florida Highway Patrol troopers stopped Norris July 7, they ran her driver’s license, and found the arrest warrant in her name. And, even though Norris’ face matched the one on her driver’s license, how could the troopers know she wasn’t the ID thief with a fake license?

Norris, a resident of Apopka, Fla., even presented a document from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirming Colleen Wehunt had stolen Norris’ identity. But the trooper had no choice but to arrest her, according to Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes–apparently judges’ warrants trump Sheriff’s Office documents.

Norris and Wehunt each rented rooms in a boarding house in the 1990s, but weren’t friends and didn’t know each other, Norris said. She said she thinks Wehunt must have stolen her mail to get enough information to successfully impersonate her all these years.

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A Counter–terrorist investigators busted an identity theft ring comprised of a Pakistani woman and 13 other accomplices. The group was allegedly bribing DMV employees in several states to forge documents and change information. The group was selling driver’s license, birth certificate and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants from Pakistan.

Shamsha Laiwalla, 44, has pleaded guilty to identity theft charges after offering to sell a forged driver’s license, birth certificate and Social Security card to an under cover cop who was posing as a Pakistani immigrant. She has not been connected to any known terrorist groups, but authorities believe that some of the profits of the group have been going to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant Shiite Muslim group.

The DMV workers connected to these scams have all been fired and some of them are being brought up on charges for illegally processing drivers license. One employee is being charged with illegally registering a car and still another for accessing the DMV database.

One of the group’s connections at the DMV changed information of a Criminal, removing information needed to track warrants for his arrest on the license. This would prevent an officer from knowing if someone had any warrants during a traffic stop.

Sounds like the administration at the DMV needs to keep a better eye on what is going on at their locations. It seems the DMV is a crucial point for identity thieves and some states are starting to bump up the security at their locations. I don’t know what the qualifications are to work at the DMV but I hope they choose their employees wisely. Some states have implemented a system that scans the database and people with more than one license using face recognition technology. This is a good step in the right direction we just need all states to implement systems like this.

The government has started a new program called CARS, which stands for Car Allowance Rebate System. The program is designed to get gas guzzler cars off the road. Your car must be 25 years old or younger and it must get less than 18 miles a gallon when it was new, and the car must now be in drivable condition. If your car qualifies you can get between $3,500 and $4,500 for your trade in.

Whenever there are government programs there are always scams that will supposedly help you obtain the rebate or credit from the government. This new CARS program is no exception. Police have already identified people running scams telling people they can provide a voucher or will add their name to an application list if they pay a fee and provide certain information. The scam artists will then take your money and use your private information to steal your identity.

The truth is there are no vouchers or application lists. The only people that can apply for the credit are new car dealerships. They are the ones that apply and they are the ones that get the money. The discounts can only be applied to new cars and the dealerships are the only ones that see the money.

So don’t fall for scams with catchy names that offer CARS credit vouchers or applications. Avoid anyone that offers money orders, check or direct deposit of your rebate, because the dealership is the only one that sees the money. If you look for these signs you should be able to identity the ID theft scams and be able to avoid them. Only trust an authorized dealer to handle the application process and be careful to whom you give your information.

Recent data breaches have most of us focused on private corporations’ failures in protecting our personal information. There are, however, bigger and more threatening security risks.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just completed an analysis of all 24 federal agencies and determined that almost all of them have exposed citizens’ personally identifiable information, and, in some cases, present significant threats to national security.

“An underlying reason for these weaknesses is that agencies have not fully implemented their information security programs,” according to the report. “As a result, agencies have limited assurance that controls are in place and operating as intended to protect their information resources, thereby leaving them vulnerable to attack or compromise.”

Still not clear on exactly how bad the problem really is? Reports of security incidents more than doubled from 2006 (5,503 reports) to 2008 (16,843 reports).

The GAO report specifically cited unresolved security problems at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security.

The SEC deficiencies were identified earlier this year, but still have not been addressed. The agency doesn’t consistently authenticate users and isn’t consistently encrypting network services or auditing its databases for unauthorized activity, the GAO report said.

Security weaknesses at many of the agencies include 1,100 users having access to mainframe system management utilities. In one agency, a contractor had full-system access, meaning any incidents that occurred on the contractor’s network could affect the federal agency’s network. Other agencies gave application users full access to source code.

The report also noted decreases in security training for personnel with critical IT responsibilities.

You buy the best car seat. You diligently track vaccination schedules. You warn them about strangers who offer candy. But, because of people like Craig Curtis, your child needs more protection.

Curtis, 36, was convicted in December 2008 for organizing a scheme to steal children’s identities, and use their Social Security numbers to buy luxury cars and expensive townhouses in Houston. Most of the townhouses were in foreclosure within a year of being purchased.

He was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in federal prison for wire fraud and an additional two years for aggravated identity theft. He must also pay $2,085,396 in restitution to lenders, and will serve three more years of supervised release when he gets out of prison.

But, none of that is going to repair the damage done to children whose credit records now show they bought houses that ended up in foreclosure. Presumably, the young victims’ families know now about the ID theft, but correcting the credit files can take years, and in some cases, the errors may never be fully resolved.

Typically, children don’t have credit records. But, the first time a credit application is made using a child’s Social Security number, the file is created, and whatever birth date is used on the application becomes a permanent part of the file.

According to a recent study by Javelin Strategy and Research, 5% of children have at least one credit report using their Social Security number; among those 5%, the children have an average of $12,779 in fraudulent or wrongly assigned debt.

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Getting married is one of the biggest changes to someone life. It is a great and wonderful time in a person’s life when they find someone they want to spend the rest of their life with. There are so many changes and new things to get use to people get over whelmed with all the information being thrown at them. Unfortunately this happy time in your life is also a time in which an identity theft could take place. With all the registries and wedding websites giving out information it’s no wonder wedding season is also identity theft season.

There are many identity theft scams that are associated with wedding planning. Some wedding websites will flood your inbox with free offers and discounts on items. Some of these offers are legitimate and some are not. Many people planning a wedding fall victim to this. Wedding planners sign-up for so many things that they forget to use their better judgment against some of the more shady deals. The deals are just scams to get you to give out personal information about yourself so they can steal your identity.

The best way to protect yourself from this kind of identity theft is only signup for offers from venders that you trust. If you don’t know anything about the vender don’t sign-up. If there is any doubt in your mind it’s better to just avoid the company. Be careful of offers that require a deposit or security fee. These offers are more than likely scams and are simply going steal your money when you send it to them. Be aware of the information you are giving out. When they require information inquire why they need it. Don’t give out information that is not required or isn’t needed. If they require information that shouldn’t be needed I would just walk away from the offer.

When registering at wedding websites make sure you give out as little information about yourself as possible. The more information you give out the easier you make it for the identity thieves trying to steal your identity. Read the privacy statements of the wedding websites and make sure they are not going to give out your information to companies trying to sell you things or trying to scam you. Keep an eye out for those pre-checked boxes that suggest free offers from companies. They are often times a legal way to get you to authorize the selling of your information. If you are not careful before you know it your inbox will be loaded with wedding offers some of which my not be legitimate.

If I were Bradley S. Abrahams, I’d be tempted to steal someone else’s identity, too. I’m not saying I’d use someone else’s information to cash stolen checks or take out credit cards like the Naperville, Illinois police say he’s done; if I were Bradley S. Abrahams, I’d be ashamed to use my own name.

Abrahams, 32, used to own Illinois Cheer Extreme Athletics—a cheer and dance training center in Naperville–with his partner, Jason Shapiro. That’s where he had easy access to teenage girls and his partner’s identifying information, and police say Abrahams took advantage of both. (more…)

Parents and students in Utah’s new Canyons School District might be looking forward to back to school sales, but this year, 6,000 school employees have to worry that identity thieves might be shopping on their dime.

The district offices sent out notification letters last Friday, telling the employees about a lost USB flash drive that holds 6,000 employees’ addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

Apparently, a district-level employee had a legitimate purpose for storing the data on the flash drive, but maybe has a little bit of a problem with short-term memory. “At, this point we have no reason to believe the information was stolen or used to perpetuate fraud or identity theft,” said Jennifer Toomer-Cook, spokeswoman for the district.

To their credit, the school district mailed the notification letters only two days after the data breach was reported. The letters provided employees with a Web address where they can initiate a 90-day fraud alert or credit freeze, but didn’t mention anything about their paying for their employees’ credit monitoring or identity theft protection services.

And they did try to assuage the concerns of district employees by saying they are working to improve security policies and building a secure network for file transfers.

Unfortunately, those changes are too late for the employees left at risk of identity theft.

“ID theft is the designer crime of the day. Of all the people I trust with my information, my employer is paramount. So, yes, I am concerned,” said Margot McCallum, a middle school teacher.

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Criminals have been stealing people’s identities since the invention of the credit card. The idea of having a credit line that they don’t have to pay for is very enticing to a criminal. There is a new bread of identity theft surfacing and it’s called synthetic identity theft. No longer do criminals need your personal information all they have to do is guess and they can steal your identity while getting credit cards with you social security number.

The thief doesn’t need to know your social security number all they have to know is where and when you were born. After 1980 the government started giving people Social Security numbers that followed a pattern. The first three digits are the place of birth, and the next two are the birth month. The last 4 digits are given out in order, which can be guessed using some public database information and some math. Experts say that the correct last four digits can be guessed 44% of the time using this method.

Even if the identity thieves get the numbers wrong they can still get the information past the credit cards security checks. The Social Security number belongs to someone but the identity thief basically creates a fictitious person. All the thief needs is a P.O. box and he can apply for dozens of credit cards. Eventually the credit card companies figures out what is happening and will stop it, but not before money and identities have been stolen.

The reason synthetic identity theft works is because banks are more concerned with issuing credit cards and dealing with the fraud on the backend then they are with dealing with all the checks and investigations before issuing credit. Either way consumers pay for the damages.

Just try getting someone at Tampa’s Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union to agree with P.T. Barnum’s assertion that all publicity is good publicity. They’ve been in the news twice in the last three weeks, but the news is hardly a marketer’s dream.

The first splash was a little one about their having to issue some new debit cards because the credit union discovered they—along with about a million other financial institutions–were caught up in the Heartland Payment Systems data breach,

But today’s news is big and ugly–the kind of news to make a CEO want to get stinkin’ drunk and punch Barnum in the mouth … after punching branch manager and pastor Donnell Dewitt Williams, that is. (more…)