This week, a federal grand jury charged 24 people in connection with 6 identity theft scams involving bank and mortgage fraud. Of those, two of the scams involved circles of 10 people.

In the first case, Charles White and Allen Smith allegedly headed up a 10 person group who defrauded banks to the tune of at least $1 million. By using the names, social security numbers, addresses, and dates of birth of potentially hundreds of customers of Commerce Bank, Wachovia Bank, PNC Bank, and M&T Bank, they were able to cash foreign and counterfeit checks as well as withdraw funds from current customers’ accounts. [Read more...]

Is it really possible to keep personal data private? Between the personal info of 26.5 million veterans being stolen, Gary McKinnen hacking into US Gov computers, and of course, the ongoing NSA wiretapping stuff, it really makes you wonder.

Information Week now has an article on data grabbing. Did you know that the FBI sends 30,000 national security letters – special subpoenas that don’t require a judge’s signature that allow the FBI to request bank, insurance, phone, ISP and credit report records (thankfully, medical records are not included) – each year? And unlike subpoenas, companies who receive a national security letter can’t disclose that they’ve received one? [Read more...]