identity theft

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Social Security Whistleblower Goes After DOGE

Agency's chief data officer says private data was left vulnerable to hackers

(Newser) - A whistleblower alleges that DOGE has put critical Social Security data on hundreds of millions of Americans at risk, reports the New York Times . The new complaint says members of the Department of Government Efficiency uploaded the Social Security Administration's database to a risky server, creating "enormous...

Guy With Babe Ruth's Name in Some Identity Fraud Trouble

Tennessee's George Herman Ruth allegedly tried to obtain more than $550K using names of baseball players

(Newser) - A Tennessee man who shares the name of the baseball legend known as Babe Ruth has been charged with stealing the identities of hundreds of former players in a sweeping fraud scheme that could land him decades behind bars. Federal prosecutors allege George Herman Ruth, 69, used the names...

MTG Urges Trump to Commute Santos' Sentence

Ex-congressman is serving 7 years for fraud, identity theft; Trump apparently hasn't ruled out commutation

(Newser) - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling on President Trump to commute the sentence of George Santos, the former New York congressman now serving a seven-year sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Greene, a vocal Trump ally, posted a letter to the Justice Department on X that argued...

'Hollywood Con Queen' Is Headed to California for Trial

Hargobind Tahilramani, accused in $1M impersonation scam, loses extradition try in UK

(Newser) - An alleged international scam artist known as the " Hollywood Con Queen " has lost a last-ditch attempt to avoid extradition from the UK to the US, setting the stage for a dramatic trial in California. Hargobind Tahilramani, a 45-year-old Indonesian citizen, faces charges related to an alleged seven-year...

George Santos Is Not Going Gently Into the Prison Night

Former congressman begins his 7-year sentence Friday, but not before a lengthy farewell tour

(Newser) - George Santos' career trajectory: from the House of Representatives to the big house. The disgraced ex-GOP lawmaker expelled from Congress in 2023 after being slammed with federal charges, including money laundering, wire fraud, and identity theft, is heading to prison Friday to start his seven-year-plus sentence on those charges, to...

Arizona Woman Hears Fate for Running N. Korean 'Laptop Farm'

Christina Chapman gets 8 years behind bars for operation that funneled millions to North Korea

(Newser) - An Arizona woman has received an eight-year-plus federal prison sentence for her role in a scheme that allowed North Korean operatives to masquerade as remote IT workers for hundreds of American companies, reports Politico . Christina Chapman, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering, reportedly ran...

Cops: Woman Has Posed as a Nurse Since COVID

Shannon Nicole Womack, 39, faces 43 counts in Pennsylvania alone

(Newser) - A woman accused of impersonating a nurse across several states faces a litany of charges after Pennsylvania authorities uncovered what they describe as an elaborate, five-year fraud operation that began during the COVID pandemic. Shannon Nicole Womack, 39, allegedly used at least 10 aliases—and possibly as many as...

Disneyland Paris Stops Mock Wedding With 9-Year-Old

Sex offender who allegedly used false identity and hired actors for ceremony is arrested

(Newser) - A British sex offender has been arrested in France after allegedly organizing a mock wedding ceremony with a 9-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris. Authorities say the 39-year-old, identified in media reports as Jacky Jhaj, used a stolen Latvian identity and forged documents to book a private event before the...

Aflac: Hackers May Have Customers' Personal Data

Claim information, health data, and Social Security numbers were exposed, insurer says

(Newser) - Aflac revealed Friday that hackers breached its systems last week, exposing sensitive customer data—including Social Security numbers—during a cyberattack. The insurer, which has millions of customers, described the attackers as a "sophisticated cybercrime group" that used social engineering to tap into its network on June 12,...

How Fake N. Korean Remote Workers Infiltrate Tech Jobs

US facilitators, fake resumes, and AI scams fuel the scheme

(Newser) - A Belgian startup founder's search for a new coder ended up finding him more than an eager employee. Simon Wijckmans, based in London and running the web security company c/side, began spotting candidates with strong resumes but odd signals: suspicious accents, noisy backgrounds, shaky connections, and a preoccupation...

Decades-Long Identity Theft Case Is Finally Over

Wisconsin man sentenced to 12 years over long ruse

(Newser) - The real William Woods is vindicated, finally. The fake William Woods has just been sent to prison for 12 years. Thus ends what prosecutors called a "Kafkaesque" case of identity theft that unspooled over decades, reports the New York Times . The fake William Woods is actually Matthew David Keirans,...

Feds: Man on the Run for 8 Years Is Captured

Eric Pree, who vanished from California federal prison in 2017, is back in custody

(Newser) - The last time Eric Pree was seen behind bars was right after Donald Trump's first inauguration, in late January 2017. The California man vanished on the 29th of that month from US Penitentiary Atwater, and he remained on the run for almost eight years—until October, when he was...

New Hack Threat: Thieves Take Over Your Phone Number

It's called SIM-swapping

(Newser) - SIM-swapping is a growing form of identity theft that goes beyond hacking into an email or social media account. In this case, the thieves take over your phone number. Any calls or texts go to them, not to you, reports the AP . Any protections consumers enabled to secure access to...

In Graceland Scam, Identity Thief Steps Forward

Plot using faked documents 'didn't succeed very well,' individual tells 'NYT'

(Newser) - An alleged identity thief claims to be behind the attempted foreclosure auction of Elvis Presley's beloved home, Graceland. "We figure out how to steal," the individual wrote in an email to the New York Times . "That's what we do." The Times had sent questions...

Man Confesses to Strange, Decadeslong Identity Theft

Matthew David Keirans has pleaded guilty in odd case

(Newser) - William Woods was homeless and living in Los Angeles when he learned that someone was racking up debt using his name. But when he reported his concerns to the branch manager of a bank, he wound up spending nearly two years locked up, accused of identity theft himself. As he...

The Town Believed She Was 22. She Definitely Wasn't

'Elle' has the story of 'Lauren Ashleigh Hays'

(Newser) - By all appearances, Lauren Ashleigh Hays was 22 as she said—and acted even younger. After arriving at a shelter in Missouri in 2016 saying she was fleeing an abusive boyfriend, the small town of Willow Springs rallied around her. She landed a job at the library, enrolled in college,...

Hacker Went After Her Niece. Big Mistake
Hacker Went After Her Niece.
Big Mistake
in case you missed it
Dec 18, 2022 7:25 AM CST

Hacker Went After Her Niece. Big Mistake

'USA Today' recounts an Ohio woman's amateur but successful investigation

(Newser) - It's not your usual story about identity theft. In this case, USA Today recounts how an Ohio woman with no background in such things decided to track down a hacker who had stolen her niece's credentials. "It’s about my niece, but I hate when people do...

Hawaii Couple Allegedly Used Dead Kids' Names for Decades

They're accused of stealing the children's identities

(Newser) - A US defense contractor and his wife who lived for decades under the identities of two dead Texas children have been charged with identity theft and conspiring against the government, according to federal court records unsealed in Honolulu. Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, both in their late 60s,...

Russian Cybercriminals and Miami Gangs Find Synergy
Miami Street Gangs 
Feed Off Russian Hackers 
longform
Mar 13, 2022 2:15 PM CDT

Miami Street Gangs Feed Off Russian Hackers

For gangs, identity theft is an easy way to raise money, and Russian criminals are making it easy

(Newser) - "Fraud is the new dope." So says Armando Aguilar of the Miami Police, per a recent report by Thomas Brewster for Forbes about links between Miami street gangs and Russian cybercriminals. Gangs have always seen identity theft as a low-risk funding source. Crips from the East Coast to...

After Surfside Condo Collapse, an 'Abhorrent' Alleged Crime

3 are charged with stealing the identities of 7 victims following shopping sprees

(Newser) - Two women and a man allegedly stole the identities of seven victims of the condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla. , in the days after the tragedy and spent thousands of dollars on shoes and a Versace purse. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle described the suspects—Betsy Alexandra Cacho-Medina, 30; her...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser