Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Biggest Identity Thief Ever Gets Put Away

Posted by timothy on from the no-that-would-be-the-government dept.

Anonymous Brave Guy writes "Apparently computer helpdesk employee Philip Cummings had more than just a day job: he's just gone down for 14 years in the biggest identity theft case ever. Lots of fascinating nuggets of information in that story: apparently fake ID goes for as little as $60, and the total stolen over just a couple of years was somewhere in the $50m-100m range."

2 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. That should be good by albn · · Score: 4, Informative

    People like this should be put away for a long time for ruining one's credit rating and making their lives a living hell. Restitution will be good too, but how much can you make in the can? not much.

    Good riddance.

    --
    Some call me Howie Feltersnatch
  2. Re:Just write it off I guess by m3j00 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Something tells me the 30,000 people he scammed aren't going to see a dime. Since Phil is not allowed to compensate with stolen funds, and he is unlikely to be returning to his lucrative helpdesk job anytime soon, I doubt he'll be able to fork over even $1 per victim.

    The actual "victim" in these cases is almost always the creditor, not the person whose identity was stolen. It costs the person a bunch of time and energy to correct the problems, but the stolen money comes from the creditors, and they have a budget for fraud.