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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."
I absolutely did not see this Cumming.
Free XBox, PS2
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
What I want to know is, when they caught the guy, did they have a positive ID?
Be relentless!
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.
Cummings, who is still free on bail, must report to prison on 9 March.
It's not like the guy could change his identity or anything.
this s**tbag's employer, Teledata Communications, was heavily fined...they must have had hundreds of complaints over the course of the thievery and never turned enough scrutiny on their own orgnaization to see the problem until way too late. I will be looking at which credit card issuers, banks, etc use Teledata Communications services and seeing if I can avoid doing business there.
but who says their competition is any safer?
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
Of course, this sort of idiotic greed is what got them to start doing these bad things in the first place. I can't imagine trying to steal identities no matter how much the profit, myself.
The CB App. What's your 20?
... but the biggest ID theif ever caught.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Seems like all the huge criminal acts these days are inside jobs. Companies from grocery stores to office buildings are spying on their employees for this exact reason.
Here in NYC anyone can obtain a fake ID for under $50 bucks and it looks legit enogh to pass...And it's legal too because it has a disclamer in he back. I used to use one to get into clubs but i also used it (with my real info on it) to goto the bank because i always loose my wallet and i just get one for $30 bucks and i never had a problem with it...People who deal with money should be educated on whats real and whats not.
HE's not Philip Cummings!
I AM!!!
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.
Like hell. First, that would be as useful as the references on a job application - no one pays attention to those, because if you can't get 3 friends to lie for you, you must be a real psychopath, let alone a credit risk. Second, those recommendations are only any good when considering the character of the referrees, so this quickly becomes a boundless recursive problem.
Also, where are these little communities anymore where everyone knows each other? Do you live in Mayberry? I know like 5 people in my entire building.
Overall, this process of trying to holistically determine credit worthiness without a centralized system would be slow as hell and obscenely expensive, if for no other reason than it would be so ineffective that banks would have to charge higher rates to account for their inability to determine credit worthiness. I don't like credit fraud either, but let's not toss the baby with the bathwater here.
And if nothing else, what if you move? Do you just get charged the highest possible rate in your new town because the community doesn't know you?
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
it's about stealing people's identities (by obtaining as much information about them) and setting up loans etc. in their name. The criminals then don't repay, the loan company comes knocking on the victims door and they then have to spend time and money reinstating their good name and credit rating.
Identity theifs really are the lowest of the low as far as "white collar" crime goes, I hope this guy rots in a stinking cell for as long as possible.
I am NaN
To add insult to injury, Mr. Cummings has now learned that everything he has purchased with his stolen ID's has been confiscated, including his new robot... his new girl robot. Heh heh heh...
32,000 staff and student ID records, including photographs and SSN's have been exposed to {h|cr}ackers, possibly for as long as two months. GMU is home to The Center for Secure Information Systems. In other news, the cobbler's children are going barefoot...
I'm not condoning the behavior, I just don't like the wording.
France for example....
And their system is working fine.
As long as you have a paycheck or a parent with a paycheck that can back you up you can usually rent an appartement.
Also French people use credit a lot less tahn American, and I guess thats better for everybody.
We could get one of those dudes from Saudi Arabia, you know, the guys with the big scimitars who lop off the heads of criminals. Then we put up billboards of this glowering headsman everywhere with the message, "If you commit identity theft, I will cut your fucking head off."
Might make a dent at least.
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
You know, I feel that crime is bad and all... I wouldn't risk my future on it -- I know first-hand how damaging a felony can ruin a person's life as I've seen it. It's frightening really. Losing all those rights... even the ones you think you don't need. That said, it tweaks me more to see how stupid the average criminal really is. Take this guy for example.
Using information collected from your work place is a REALLY stupid thing to do. When masses of ID theft cases are compiled, it seems pretty obvious that these collections will have things in common such as places where the stolen information was used. It stands to reason that there would be one or two places where a collection will have information in common such as where they shopped. This fact brings the people responsible one big step closer to being caught. From there it's simply a matter of detective work to narrow the selection of people down to a few or even one.
When a crime is repeated over and over and over again, it simply increases the likelihood of being caught. I read somewhere here on Slashdot a bit of criminal advice that just makes too much sense. If you are going to commit a crime, make sure it has two criteria met: (1) It's big enough that it is worth the risks involved and (2) that you never EVER do it again.
Criminals get caught because they do it and keep doing it. They also don't seem to plan to get away with it. Stupid stupid stupid....
no one said anyone is allowed to rip people off. Simply that if you pay your employees shit, you get shit employees. Like this guy.
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
The actual "victim" in these cases is almost always the creditor
Of course, the creditor makes up that money by charging everyone higher interest rates. Also, it IS possible for identity theft to lead to someone walking into a bank with your info, SSN, valid ID, et cetera and clear out your bank account. But most of the time it's the far easier credit card fraud.
My other first post is car post.
The USA uses the Social Security Number to apply for credit. How do citizens of other countries apply for credit? What unique identifying number do they use to identify themselves? Do they have companies similar to Experian, TransUnion or Equifax?
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
And how would you get there? Hidden in the back of a car or in someone's luggage? You won't get through customs. Your passport is definitely revoked in such case.
Yeah, if only he had some way of getting a new identity.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Hey now, we're not all hicks up here. Yes, we have those people who part cars on blocks in front of their trailer, but so does every other state.
We're rather intelligent, atleast when it comes to test scores. North Dakota has some of the highest educational test scores in the nation. We might live in a rural part of the country, but that doesn't mean we just live scattered out on the prairie, drinking beer and riding our tractors. Most people in North Dakota actually live in cities (well, what we call cities...population 10,000 or more) and have jobs in the service industry. Agriculture is a huge part of our state economy, however its really made up of a rather small group of people, and even the farmers usually aren't too hickish.
Tourism is our second largest industry-sector, behind agriculture. You'd be surprised what North Dakota has to offer.