Americans have benefited from widespread identity theft prevention education campaigns. We know better than to give out our personal and financial information over the phone. We’re getting a lot better at spotting phishing e-mails. We’re more careful about giving out our Social Security numbers.

But it’s not always strangers who commit ID theft; in 26% percent of identity theft cases, someone known to the victims — family members, neighbors or employees — commits the crime.

But how do we protect ourselves from bank employees? There have been several cases recently where bank officers used their customers’ personal and financial information to commit identity theft crimes.

Such is the case of George Clayton, a former bank vice president of commercial lending from Manheim, Pa. Clayton took out four loans totaling $712,000 using the identities of three bank customers. His crimes took place between January 2006 and June 2008. One of the customers Clayton victimized finally discovered the loan and contacted the bank. (more…)