Identity Theft Skeptic Ends Up As Fraud Victim

An anonymous reader writes "British TV host Jeremy Clarkson recently wrote a newspaper editorial ridiculing the uproar that had occurred after the British government admitted to losing two compact discs containing the personal information on 25 million people. To support his claim about the overhyped risks of identity theft, he published his bank account information in the article. Proving that some identity thieves have a sense of humor, a week later, he found out that someone had set up an automatic bank transfer for $1000 to a diabetes charity from his account. This comes less than a year after the CEO of LifeLock, an identity theft protection company which publishes the CEO's social security number on its website, himself was a victim of financial fraud. Back in July of 2007, a man in Texas was able to secure a $500 loan from a payday loan company using the CEO's widely publicized SSN. Will this latest incident finally prove that identity theft is real, and that publishing your own financial info is an invitation for fraud?"

Comments

Poetic justice

[nullCRC]

Plain and simple.

Re:Poetic justice

[Naughty Bob]

I like the scam they pulled, but to be truly poetic, the bank transfer should have gone to Friends of the Earth. Anyone who knows of Clarkson will understand.

Re:Poetic justice

[modecx]

I like the scam they pulled, but to be truly poetic, the bank transfer should have gone to Friends of the Earth. Anyone who knows of Clarkson will understand.

Hahah, no kidding!

Re:Poetic justice

[cHiphead]

That sumbitch bettar stay outta our Amer'ca or we'll kick his r'mainin good teeth owt!

I bet he's a terrist too!

Re:Poetic justice

[Malevolyn]

He obviously doesn't use the internet for its intended purpose, otherwise he'd know people DO mate with vegetables.

Re:Poetic justice

[mcpkaaos]

his r'mainin good teeth

He's British.

Re:Poetic justice

[Bloater]

There's an ocean between /me/ and Great Britain too, but that's because I drank 5 litres of water today and I just wet myself.

Re:Poetic justice

[itsdapead]

I don't know why they picked diabetes; I was explaining the comment about why they should have chosen Friends of the Earth. Clarkson is a notorious anti-environmentalist.

Maybe they wanted to be sure of hitting Clarkson in the pocket?

Had the fraudster chosen (say) FoE then Clarkson could demand the money back with perfect integrity, since - love him or hate him - he has never made a secret of his position on environmental issues and could reasonably refuse to support FoE as a matter of principle.

If, however, he claws back the money from a diabetes charity he's going to look like a complete Scrooge.

Ha Ha. :-)

Of course, the other possibility is that, since even a lowly unpaid clerical helper at FoE seeing the name "Jeremy Clarkson" attached to a donation would immediately spray coff... er... Fairtrade carob beverage over their keyboard and make further enquiries, the fraudster thought they'd play it safe.

Schadenfreude

[Dr Caleb]

Clarkson, you ponce!

And learn what a pickup truck is designed for, would ya?

Re:Schadenfreude

[Thansal]

What is that, some kind of Nazi word?

Bwahahahahaha!

[MightyMartian]

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: "What a maroon!"

Re:Bwahahahahaha!

[VGPowerlord]

From the other guy's perspective:
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: "Ain't I a stinker?"

Clarkson announced it on Top Gear

[Manny_Bones]

During the news segment this season. He somehow blamed it on using his credit card at the gas pump, whether or not it was while filling up his Lamborghini he didn't say. James May did not say "oh cock" to this.

Open Mouth.

[AndGodSed]

Insert Foot.

Re:If you give it away

[russ1337]

Yeah, I just can't believe someone could be that stupid.

Signed

Sam B. Carswell
4994 Pin Oak Drive
Whittier, CA 90603

Email Address: SamBCarswell@fontdrift.com


Phone: 562-943-0713
Mother's maiden name: Grondin
Birthday: January 27, 1955

Visa: 4532 7971 3753 8401
Expires: 12/2009

SSN: 550-80-1765

UPS Tracking Number for my Plasma TV: 1Z 195 055 46 3018 447 5

Re:If you give it away

[KublaiKhan]

Yes, but what's your /. password?

Re:Will it lead to stricter regulation of credit?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Plus, it'd be nice to not get those 10-15 credit card offers a week in the mail."

No, no, no! You're looking at this all wrong!

I LOVE getting those free offers in the mail - but only the ones with the return-postage-paid envelopes.

Did you know that you can tape that envelope to ANYTHING (almost...) that weighs less than 70 lbs.? And it will be delivered?

That's how I get rid of my old 486, 386, etc computers. And I don't fill up MY landfill! (And they have to dispose of them correctly!)

Sweeeet!!

Re:Obligatory

[smurgy]

This is your 3rd comment on /. - and your second one entitled "obligatory", containing an obvious joke.

It's nice to see you've found a role within the community.

Re:If you give it away

[chooks]

It's a six digit ID. Who cares? :)

Re:He had it coming...

[imipak]

Humbled?? Is this some sort of secret clone Clarkson that's roaming the earth? Doesn't sound much like the tosser we know and loathe so much. Viz ran a Roger Mellie (The Man on the Telly) strip taking the piss out of him, it has him doing a piece to camera - "this is the all-new Ferarri Testosterone, and it's 500 BHP of snorting, snarling bitch. If this car was a woman I'd drop my kecks right now and give it one right up the exhaust pipe. IN fact I think I will!" (next frame) "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Yeah, bitch, you like it like that don't you?!" "sproing, sproing sproing" (car springs) "Cut!"

Is he running Vista?

[PRMan]

I mean, 60%-90% CPU cycles while doing nothing would be normal then, right?

Re:If you give it away

[WK2]

It's a six digit ID. Who cares? :)

I do.