LifeLock Blog

The State Department has notified nearly 400 people that their passport applications may have been stolen, and the information used to commit identity theft and fraud.

It all started in March when the department discovered their employees had been snooping around in the passport applications of celebrities and presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama.

Within a month of that disclosure, a 24-year-old man was arrested with 21 credit cards in different names, and eight passport applications. The names on four of the credit cards matched those of some of the applicants.

Lieutenant Q. Harris Jr. admitted he was part of an identity theft and credit card fraud crime ring, and was working with a State Department employee, and another employee of the US Postal Service.

Harris subsequently agreed to cooperate in the investigation, but was fatally shot just a few days after appearing in court.

Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department, said the arrest had nothing to do with employees’ illegal snooping. He did say, though, that one employee had been fired as a result of the data breach. McCormack would not say how the passport applications were obtained.

The investigation into the credit card fraud and identity theft ring is ongoing and being conducted in cooperation with the Washington DC police department.  More passport applicants may be notified as the investigation continues.

Passport applications contain individuals’ names, Social Security numbers, physical descriptions, and the names and places of birth of the applicants’ parents.