Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Phishing, Identity Theft & Court Cases

Busy day.

California authorities have arrested a suspect in the identity theft scheme that broke Monday in which ChoicePoint's database was illegally accessed, estimating that at least 750 fraud victims have already been identified, but that the scope of the endeavor is almost certainly nationwide. ChoicePoint is a private agency established in 1977, that has become an "all-purpose commercial source of personal information about Americans."

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers has issued a 15-page report entitled, "Welcome to the Jungle: The State Privacy Implications of Spam, Phishing, and Spyware" which some of you might find worthwhile.

And, an MSNBC.com article Monday reported that "what authorities are calling one of the biggest consumer fraud cases ever prosecuted, alleged members of New York's Gambino family pleaded guilty to conspiracy & fraud charges stemming from an Internet and phone billing caper that bilked consumers out of more than $650 million between 1996 and 2003."

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