Friday, September 08, 2006

Inmate Ran Identity Theft Ring From Prison Cell

Inmate-Ran-Identity-Theft-Ring-From-Prison-Cell-audio post - click to play

"The sheer brazenness of this criminal enterprise is incredible"
according to Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox upon the
sentencing
of an inmate who orchestrated a sophisticated
identity theft empire
from his jail cell.


Involving thousands of stolen names and social security
numbers
(ssn), the prison inmate ring leader's arrest resulted
from his attempt to defraud Michigan taxpayers out of "hundreds
of thousands" of dollars in state tax funds earmarked for low
income renters.

The criminal ring leader, from his jail cell, managed to gain
control of confidential consumer information he used to direct
his accomplices to file hundreds of fraudulent homestead
property
tax claims with the Michigan Treasury Department.

When the inmate's identity theft ring was busted, hundreds of
Michigan Treasury refund checks were in the process
of being
sent to various addresses in Detroit.

Not surprisingly many of the addresses did not
actually exist
, but they all had a change of address
card filed with the U.S. Post Office for mail to be
forwarded to a P.O. box in a nearby Detroit suburb.

What is surprising - the post office box was
rented by a company
which was incorporated
by the inmate while he was in prison!


So, our tip for today is to remember identity theft can come
from just about any imagineable direction. Even criminals
who
are behind prison bars can still inflict serious
harm to your
financial future.

That's why it's important to not only setup an automatic
alerting system for your banking accounts, but also regularly
screen for those other serious types of identity theft
which
no credit report was ever designed to catch.

Get your public information profile scrutinized
twice per year just to insure your good name has not already
been victimized by the criminal master minds behind identity
theft.

4 Comments:

At 10:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only in America can 3 time convicted felon be able to continue to operate.

The fact this guy operated his criminal enterprise from his prison cell is just absolutely incredible.

What's next - identity theft from the White House?

 
At 6:45 PM, Blogger agent99 said...

Yes, it does sound incredible - but sadly it's true.

Oh, by the way, on the "what's next..." question you left us.

We looked into your question further as one of our editors seemed to recall some buzz in the recent past regarding theft allegations of a White House aid.

It turns out the former domestic policy advisor for President Bush was accused of theft and fraud which lead to him resigning before the actually charges hit.

Former Top Bush Aid Accused of Theft

 
At 12:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Identity theft seems to be a real epidemic sweeping this country....or should I say "sickness"....one in which no one is immune.

As you guys have pointed out priests, parents, daughters, cops, teachers, and even a senior white house advisor all have fallen to the identity theft bug.

Keep exposing the truth for all the rest of us who are too busy trying to survive and make ends meet.

Your "tip of the day" feature along with the audio podcast of identity theft prevention advice really comes in handy....and after the recent week of articles you've published seems to be a necessity for the other half of American who's next on the victim's list.

 
At 12:08 AM, Blogger agent99 said...

Thank you very much for the kind words.

Our aim, as former identity theft victims, has and continues to be one of service to those who might be saved from the ravages of identity theft.

Here's why

Id Theft Secrets Blog

 

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