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Biggest Identity Thief Ever Gets Put Away
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."
Why does a help desk operator have access to my credit report?
Surely you can design a system where very few humans ever have contact with all of a persons information.
I've dealt with on UK bank where when you wanted to perform certain transactions using telephone banking you were passed to a second tier operator and instructed not to give them your name.
Presumably the system was set up such that no one person had enough confidential information on a single customer.
The US really needs far stricter controls on SSNs - it's insane how often i need my ssn for day to day transactions.
While I agree, having been a victim of identity theft (only once that I know of) Perhaps part of the problem is credit ratings themselves.
There are other ways for a lender or landlord to learn whether a person is a risk. Most people have a reputation in their community that one need only ask to learn. Most credible people can provide credible references. The current addiction to putting everyone's number in a New Jersey database does more harm than good, especially when folks like Cummings come along.
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
... but the biggest ID theif ever caught.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
When I worked for a broker, I had access to client SSNs, clearing house info for EFT, the whole nine yards. We were monitored, but that only went so far. Our tech support guys had all the same info.
Oh, we passed all the industry regulation background searches, etc. In fact, I saw a number of people kicked out of my training class when the searches uncovered bounced checks, forgeries, and other financial crimes. But that's the thing - many people who do that stuff do keep trying to get jobs in the industry. Which makes me think there's a high likelihood that people prone to doing that in general try to take those jobs. I know it's a bit presumptuous, like assuming all pedophiles without records will try to get jobs with kids simply in order to molest them - I'm sure less than 100% of them molest, but as an aggregate group they're unsafe - and it scares me to know how open this access is, especially when I know what they get paid and the educational requirements involved for the job.
i'm sure someone retired with that money.
just not this little drone in the circles...
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
You never hear of the ones that do learn and do stop in time.