Woman arrested in suspicion of ID theft

ABC7News.com Reports  that Michelle Gaye Perkins, 43, allegedly used her position as owner of the Senior's Resource Center in Texas to take information from an employee's application and open credit card accounts in California, police said.

The center had closed by the time the victim realized her information had been taken. She filed police reports and investigated, discovering that Perkins had moved to California and charged about $5,000 on the credit card and used it to rent a house

Women Are Four Times More Likely to Give Up Passwords for Chocolate

Included in the survey was a range of personal information, including name, address, birthdate, and computer passwords. While 45 percent of the women surveyed provided the passwords, only 10 percent of the men did so.

Overall, the local population did much better this year than during the 2007 Infosecurity Europe conference, when 64 percent of all respondents gave up their personal data for chocolate. This year, only 21 percent offered their passwords.

New York Hospital Worker Arrested for Stealing 50,000 Patient Records

Dwight McPherson, 38, a former worker at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was arrested Friday night, shortly after the hospital announced the security breach, according to the Associated Press.

Interestingly, the breach had not been discovered by the hospital. McPherson was exposed when police and postal inspectors in Atlanta raided a suspected identity theft ring. Among the papers they found were 221 documents from the hospital, which allegedly were sent to the ring by McPherson.

IRS commissioner promises faster response to ID theft

Spencer, of Montana, told the Senate Finance Committee that 10 days after the IRS had been notified that there was a problem, the IRS had released the refund to the fraudulent taxpayer. It was only because Spencer had notified the bank of the identity theft that the payment was held up.

Her client may have been lucky. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said that on average it takes almost a year for the IRS to sort out who is the real taxpayer when there is an identity issue. "In the meantime the victim's tax accounts get frozen. The IRS issues no refund," he said. "The taxpayer waits in tax limbo for months and months."

High-Tech Crime Is an Online Bubble That Hasn�t Burst

The New York TImes reports that There are no storefronts or corporate headquarters in the cybercrime industry, just savvy sellers in a murky, borderless economy who are moving merchandise by shilling credit card numbers — “two for the price of one.”

“Sell fresh CC,” promised one who offered teaser credit card numbers. “Visa, MasterCard, Amex. Good Prices. Many countries.”

Electronic crime is maturing, according to security experts, and with its evolution, criminals are adopting conventional approaches like supermarket-style pricing and outsourcing to specialists who might act as portfolio managers or computer technicians.

Students fall victim to massive phishing scheme

Lately, there has been an increase in "phishing" scams in an attempt by malicious users to gain valuable information. Phishing attacks are attempts to gain sensitive information by sending e-mail messages that appear to come from legitimate companies or individuals.

The e-mail messages may ask to verify account information for any number of reasons. In the process, the recipient is asked for guarded information such as usernames, passwords, birthdates, social security numbers, and account numbers.

Web Crime Spikes in 2007, Losses Near $240M

eCommerce Times is reporting that The financial losses tied to Internet crime reached record levels in 2007, the FBI said Thursday, citing data from its annual Internet Crime Report.

Army Runs Fake Spam Site

To conduct the exercise, the Army Computer Emergency Response Team sent e-mails promising free tickets to area theme parks which linked to a website posing as the site for the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command (FMWRC) - a real military family support organization.  The only problem was, no one bothered to tell the organization that their name was being used to conduct the exercise.  Oops!

When FMWRC realized they were being used fraudulently for phishing, they immediately distributed a press release to media outlets world-wide in an effort to warn as many customers as possible that the offer was fraudulent.  At the same time, they hustled to coordinate with Army legal and information technology offices to have the bogus website shut down.

Secret software blamed for Hannaford breach

The Scarborough, Maine-based grocer confirmed a report in The Boston Globe that it told Massachusetts regulators this week about the link to the illicit computer "malware."

The company doesn't know how the malware — short for malicious software — got to the stores' servers, Hannaford spokeswoman Carol Eleazer said.

Breach exposes 4.2 million credit, debit cards

Hannaford said credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization process and about 4.2 million unique card numbers were exposed, placing the case among the largest data breaches ever.

The breach affected all of its 165 stores in the Northeast, 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida and a smaller number of independent groceries that sell Hannaford products.

The impostor in the ER

Medical identity theft can leave you with hazardous errors in health records

MSNBC reports that Katrina Brooke felt well prepared for the birth of her son, Andrew, three Aprils ago. The only complication was her Caesarean section; otherwise, everything went smoothly. After three days in the hospital, Brooke returned to her home outside of Seattle to recover and enjoy her baby boy.

Three weeks later, as Brooke stood in her kitchen opening mail, she found a curious $94 bill from a local health clinic, a place neither she nor her husband had ever heard of. Stranger still, the notice was addressed to her newborn son: Andrew had apparently visited the clinic and been prescribed the painkiller OxyContin for a work-related back injury.

Hacker breached data at Harvard University

The Ivy League school says a computer hacker gained entry to its server last month.

Harvard says about 10,000 of last year's applicants may have had their personal information compromised, with 6,600 having their Social Security numbers exposed.

Credit card fraudsters hid camera in ceiling

Fraudsters drilled a hole in the ceiling above the filling station’s chip-and-PIN machine and filmed customers keying in their numbers. The fraudsters then produced replica credit cards that they sent to criminal associates around the world.

Within hours of customers using their credit cards to make payments at the garage near a roundabout on the A46 in Lincoln, the replica cards were being used fraudulently in locations such as India and Dubai. More than 200 motorists have had hundreds of pounds taken from their bank accounts. It is expected many more victims of the fraud will come forward as they check their statements.

Former BofA VP Robert Conner sentenced to 9.5 years in jail

The St. Louis Business Journal reports that Former Bank of America Vice President Robert Conner has been sentenced to 114 months in prison after being convicted in November of 36 federal charges involving a $1.4 million bank and credit card fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway announced Wednesday.

Conner, 44, of St. Louis, was a vice president of Bank of America's Chesterfield, Mo., branch.

According to Hanaway's release, between June 2005 and November 2006, it was part of this scheme that Conner provided 16 co-defendants an opportunity to submit false applications for small business lines of credit with Bank of America, in the form of credit cards. A total of about $1.4 million in fraudulent charges were made on cards fraudulently approved by Conner.

Cyberthieves go phishing to rob banks

CNN reports that Notorious 20th-century bank robber Willie Sutton said famously, "I rob banks because that's where the money is."

It seems 21st-century criminals are following his footsteps.

But while Sutton disguised himself as a cop, a window washer and a Western Union messenger, cyberthieves use a different type of subterfuge -- phishing -- to cover their identities and wipe out bank accounts.

ID theft mastermind gets 65 months

Jodi Lynn Garcia, 32, of Paradise was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr., according to Scott's news release.

Garcia was convicted of recruiting several people to cash checks stolen from the mail and of counterfeiting checks using account numbers obtained from stolen financial information, the release said

The conspirators caused losses of between $30,000 and $70,000 to financial institutions, the release said. From November 2006 to July 2007, more than 50 people were victims of theft.

Garcia recruited the following people:

Heather A. Morshead, 25, of Magalia, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bank fraud. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 3.

Heather M. Wilson, 34, and Tiffany A. Sabral, 27, both of Chico, and Tanya L. Wellman, 37, of Durham, who each pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy. Each was sentenced to time served plus 36 months' probation.

Another alleged recruit, Melissa A. Meier, 19, of Chico, faces charges of aggravated identity theft, bank fraud and possession of stolen mail.

– Bee Metro staff

Calif. Senate strengthens breach notification law

The bills, SB364 (privacy) and SB612 (ID theft prosecution), passed by 30-7 and 40-0 votes, respectively. Both measures were authored by State Sen. Joe Simitian, who sponsored SB1386, California's original breach notification law in 2002.

Visa adds to its list of payment apps that improperly store card data

Visa began distributing the list last April and has updated it every three months since then. The company doesn't make the list openly available and hasn't publicly identified any of the vendors whose products are on it. Instead, Visa sends the list to so-called acquiring banks, the financial institutions that authorize merchants to accept payment-card transactions.

A Visa spokesman said today that the company has tried to keep the list under wraps because of concerns that making it public would give hackers "a tip sheet" for identifying retail systems that store sensitive data about cardholders. He noted that Visa expressly asks the recipients of the list, which also include payment processors and software vendors, not to publish it or make it available on publicly accessible Web sites.

Tax time brings phishing season

"People may see these and say, 'Well, I'm supposed to get a refund. Maybe this is it,' " said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Jesse Weller.

"The IRS never sends unsolicited initial e-mails," IRS spokesman Bill Steiner said. Nor does it ever ask for detailed personal and financial information, personal identification numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts, the men said.

Privacy Watch: Wireless Keyboards That Blab

PCWORLD reports that Input devices that share a radio frequency can also share keystroke information across surprisingly long distances.

Wireless keyboards are more convenient than standard wired models--after all, who doesn't want to get rid of another cord on their desk? But, as an unfortunate pair of wireless keyboard owners found out, the long range of some devices can make them a privacy and security risk.

A couple of neighbors in the Norwegian town of Stavenger both had new wireless keyboards from HP. These keyboards, like most other wireless models, transmit keypresses to the computer via radio signals that are beamed to a receiver. But the neighbors quickly discovered that if both of them used their PCs at the same time--even though they were more than a football field's length away from each other in different apartments--both receivers would output anything that either neighbor typed.

HP's product manager in Norway, Tore Särelind, was at a loss to explain the malfunction. "We have no logical or technical explanation for how this is possible," Särelind said. "The keyboard should have a theoretical radius of about 20 meters."

Radio experts say that local weather conditions, or even unshielded power cables, have the ability to amplify or increase the range of radio signals.

Lost Laptop Exposes Nashville Voters to Identity Theft

PCWORLD is reporting that Thieves have stolen two laptops containing unencrypted Social Security numbers of 337,000 Tennessee residents.

The theft of a laptop containing Social Security numbers of Nashville, Tennessee, area voters is expected to cost local officials about US$1 million as they roll out identity-theft protection to those affected.

County officials say that thieves broke into Davidson County Election Commission offices on the weekend before Christmas, smashing a window with a rock and then making off with a $3,000 router, a digital camera and a pair of Dell Latitude laptops containing names and Social Security numbers of all 337,000 registered voters in the county.

Twice bitten: Acts of stupidity can lead to identity theft

Data Breaches, Thefts on the Rise

Report: Identity Theft Worse in 2008

Data Storage Today is reporting that In its latest report on data breaches and identity theft, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) offered several disturbing predictions for 2008. For example, the ITRC predicts identity theft will continue to grow more international in scope and that identity-theft scams will become more sophisticated and will be harder to detect

According to the latest data from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the number of publicly reported data breaches in the U.S. rose by more than 40 percent in 2007.

The ITRC cited 443 publicly reported breaches in 2007 as of December 24. That compares to 315 publicized breaches in 2006. In all, 127 million data records were exposed during 2007, compared to nearly 20 million in 2006. In 2005, the ITRC reported 158 publicly disclosed breaches exposing about 65 million records.

Identity theft continues to thrive despite efforts by governmental agencies, businesses, consumer advocates, and law enforcement. Identity thieves keep finding innovative new ways to steal, and are becoming more sophisticated and skilled at their craft.

Credit Card Security Features Worth Opting For

Credit card fraud remains the most common form of identity theft, accounting for 25% of cases in 2006, according to the Federal Trade Commission. "Credit cards have become a significant — and growing — part of the identity theft equation," says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com. Blame its popularity on the numerous methods thieves can employ to get their hands on your credit card information — and the ease with which they can exploit it. Should someone obtain your Social Security number, lines of credit are often the first new accounts opened.

Of course, avoiding this type of identity theft depends largely on your own behavior. Among other things, you need to properly shred those unused cash advance checks and new card offers, shop only through secure web sites, resist replying to phishing emails, and keep a firm grip on your wallet.

Online Records May Aid ID Theft: Government Sites Post Personal Data

Personal Data Theft Reaches Unprecedented Levels in 2007

And while companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of data with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, the investment often is too little too late.

"More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they're responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company's security and seeing where the holes might be," said Linda Foley, who founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center after becoming an identity theft victim herself.

Identity Theft Cartoon

Brought to us by the The Canadian Privacy Law Blog

Birmingham woman indicted for identity theft and bank fraud

Wedgeworth is specifically charged with three counts of bank fraud, and three counts of

aggravated identity theft. The penalty for bank fraud is not more than thirty years in prison, fines

3 charged in million-dollar credit card scam

The small group sent part of the money it bilked from the companies to Pakistan and the FBI is working to determine if the money was sent to fund some nefarious activity such as terrorism, officials said.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio cautioned that "There is no connection, as of now, to any particular group or organization. It could be it was just sent over there to be used for personal purposes in the future -- but the FBI is investigating."

Internet Privacy: No Big Deal?

Despite warnings, users continue to post personal information on the Web

Dark Reading reports that Most Internet users aren't particularly worried about how much information about them is available online, and many continue to post their personal data despite the risk of identity theft.

These are two of the conclusions drawn by a study published yesterday by the Pew Internet Project, which interviewed 1,623 Web users from a pool of 2,373 adults.

In the study, 60 percent of Internet users said they are not worried about how much information is available about them online. Only 38 percent of users say they have taken steps to limit the amount of online information that is available about them.

Roughly one third of Internet users say their email address, home address, home phone number, or employer is available on the Web. A quarter of Internet users say photos, names of groups they belong to, or signed things they have written appear online.

Disney, Home Depot Get Poor Privacy Marks

Ralph Lauren is among the best, public interest group says

Dark Reading reports that If you're looking for some help in writing or rewriting your company's privacy policy, take a close look at the latest report from CyberStreetSmart.org, a service of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The report offers a concise, yet comprehensive list of dos and don'ts for writing privacy policy, giving specific examples from the retail industry in the form of "Screen Door Awards" for poor policy and "Steel Door Awards" for well-chosen policy language.

Disneyshopping.com received a Screen Door for its privacy policy, because its language is "very technical and lengthy" and may be hard for people to understand, according to the report.

Homedepot.com was awarded a Screen Door because its policy says personal information may be transferred if the company is sold.

Company Will Pay $50,000 Penalty for Tossing Consumers’ Credit Report Information in Unsecured Dumpster

“Every business, whether large or small, must take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect sensitive consumer information, from acquisition to disposal,” FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said. “This agency will continue to prosecute companies that fail to fulfill their legal responsibility to protect consumers’ personal information.”

Data on 3M UK Drivers \'Lost in Iowa\'

Misplaced hard drive adds to furor over lost tax data

Dark Reading reports that The British government's IT security woes got deeper today when Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly reported to Parliament that the personal data of some 3 million U.K. drivers has been lost by a contractor in Iowa.

The administration has already been in hot water for most of the month, following the loss of as many as eight CDs containing the personal information of some 25 million taxpayers and family members. (See UK Government in Uproar Following Data Loss.)

In a statement before Parliament earlier today, Chancellor Alistair Darling told British legislators that the government has made little progress in finding the missing CDs, according to reports. Then Transport Secretary Kelly stepped to the microphone.

PayPal, E-payments Gain Online Ground

Internet-based payment services are growing in popularity, as PayPal and others capitalize on fear of identity theft and payment fraud

Businessweek reports Burt Reynolds is an unlikely choice for the role of Santa's helper. That didn't stop computer maker Dell from casting the actor in a series of commercials aimed at the social-networking set.

In the videos, launched last month, Reynolds encourages viewers to buy Dell products online as holiday gifts for friends and family.

The star of "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Cannonball Run" isn't the only surprising casting choice. Playing the part of payment collector is eBay's PayPal. Dell typically lets customers purchase computers with their Visa or MasterCard credit cards. But with this new service, all payments go through a PayPal account.

\'ID THIEF\' BRAT\'S TRAIL OF BIZARRO TALL TALES

The New York Post reports about The buxom brunette who made up half of the alleged rich-kid identity-theft duo is no stranger to lying, cheating or stealing, her acquaintances say.

Jet-set jive-talker Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, who surrendered to Philadelphia cops yesterday on a slew of fraud charges, confounded many with her bizarre behavior growing up in Winston-Salem, NC, friends said.

Columbia Doctors at Risk For Identity Theft

The Identity Theft Resource Center Releases Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2006

The Identity Theft Resource Center® released an important report today discussing the impact of identity theft victimization. This report was not based on a census survey but rather one that invited confirmed victims of identity theft in 2006 to respond to a series of 44 questions. These ranged from the emotional impact this crime has had on their lives and their ability to recover their good name to the financial loss to the business community in goods and services.

It also should be noted that reported time periods were given at the time victims responded to the survey. The Aftermath 2006 does not distinguish between those who are still being affected from those who are not. Thus, certain measures of victimization represent conservative estimates since the assessment was limited to the ending date of the study.

The following are highlights of The Aftermath 2006 study. Tables and additional data can be found in the full report on the website.

Detectives Looking For Victims of Identity Theft

CBS 13 Sacramento reports that Two suspects in an identity theft ring have been arrested, and now Riverbank Sheriff's Detectives are hoping to identify their victims.

According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, detectives were investigating the source of a fraudulent check cashed at a local Target store, when they recognized the suspect on surveillance footage as Jimmy Newell. 

Seventeen Indicted For Cybercrime And ID Theft In New York

Three of the defendants -- Vadim Vassilenko, Yelena Barysheva, and John Washington -- were arraigned the day of the announcement. Six of them -- Tetyana Goloborodko, Douglas Latta, Angela Perez, Kostas Kapsis, Lyndon Roach, and Keith Cummings -- were arraigned previously. Two of them -- Eduard Kholstinin and Oleksiy Yarne -- are in custody in other states on unrelated charges. And six others are still being sought by authorities.

Western Express International, formerly headquartered in Manhattan, also was indicted. Vadim Vassilenko and Yelena Barysheva served as corporate officers for the company.

Wednesday's indictment arises from an earlier investigation and indictment of Western Express in February 2006. Vadim Vassilenko and Yelena Barysheva pleaded guilty to charges in that case and both are serving sentences in state prison.

NOW, A WAY TO STOP ID THEFT

Identity Theft Continues To Increase

Schwarzenegger says \'Hasta la vista\' to bill on data breach costs

In a statement explaining his reasons for refusing to sign the bill, formally known as AB 779, Schwarzenegger said that it "attempts to legislate in an area where the marketplace has already assigned responsibilities and liabilities that provide for the protection of consumers."

The measure, which was approved last month by both the California State Assembly and Senate, would have required retailers in California that get hit by data breaches to reimburse banks and credit unions for the cost of alerting customers and reissuing credit and debit cards. It would also have prohibited merchants from storing specific types of authentication data taken from the magnetic stripes on the back of payment cards, while requiring the use of so-called strong authentication technologies for protecting cardholder data.

San Antonio one of the worst cities for identity theft

The San Antonio Business Journal is reporting that San Antonio has been ranked the 10th highest city in the United States for identity theft, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center and pen maker uni-ball pens.

Phoenix is the No. 1 city in America for identity theft, followed by Riverside, Calif.; Las Vegas; Miami; Dallas; Sacramento; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Houston and the Alamo City.

This results come at a time when less than 25 percent of Americans nationwide are taking the proper steps to protect themselves.

ID theft victims, retailers split on bill

Oregon identity theft law takes effect

Both provisions were part of an identity theft bill passed last spring by the Legislature.

Elements of the bill take effect over the next three-month period, starting Monday.

Identity theft or a breach in the protection of personal information can result in the opening of bogus credit accounts, which are used to make purchases.

Wayne County employee charged in huge identity theft case

The Detroit Free Press reports that Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans is holding a press conference this afternoon to announce charges against a former county employee accused of identity theft.

Evans aid the suspect had been a manager in the county?s office of management and budget and had been sharing county employees? personal information.

There were at least 39 victims in the scheme, Evans said in a press released.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is also scheduled to attend the 2:30 p.m. press conference at the sheriff?s office in Detroit.

Canada to criminalize identity theft

He said he would introduce legislation targeting the actual gathering and trafficking in credit card, banking and other personal data for the purposes of using it deceptively.

Identity fraud is already a crime in Canada, but gathering and trafficking in identity information generally is not.

“Our government will be giving police the tools to better protect Canadians by stopping identity theft activity before the damage is done,” Nicholson said in a statement.

NY Mayor Bloomberg Target of Identity Theft: DA

CNBC is reporting that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the victim of identity theft, according to the New York County District Attorney's office.

The Manhattan DA's office said in a release Tuesday it charged two men with stealing funds from the mayor's personal financial accounts.

Officials charged Charles Nelson with grand larceny and identity theft, alleging that Nelson stole $10,000 from one of Bloomberg's personal accounts on May 11. Nelson's theft was discovered after Nelson attempted to transfer the money from the mayor's Bank of America account to his own E*Trade account, authorities said.

The War on Fraud

Founded and run by Israeli intelligence specialists, Fraud Sciences is helping online retailers distinguish legitimate charges from fraudulent ones

BusinessWeek reports that Cybercriminals are working overtime getting ready for the busy Christmas season, when online shopping is at its peak. But this year, Internet merchants stand a better chance of weeding out fraudulent buyers thanks to technology developed by a startup called Fraud Sciences. Even better, hundreds of online retailers in the U.S. and elsewhere already using the startup's screening system will be able to accept with confidence orders they might previously have rejected as suspicious—a boon to their top line.

For Tel Aviv-based Fraud Sciences, the opportunity looks limitless. Last year, online purchases charged to stolen or illegitimate credit cards cost merchants an estimated $3 billion in the U.S. alone. Many believe the actual cost is much higher. Fraud Sciences' proprietary technology tackles the problem by helping merchants verify the identity of buyers. That, in turn, makes merchants more willing to accept orders, especially from overseas.

Family swept into ID theft scheme

Kevin Truluck, \'Identity Theft King\'

The 51-year-old Truluck recently told associates he had made the "big time" after being snared by the FBI and Postal Inspection Service, and sitting in the Federal Detention Center.

"He loves the limelight. He loves the attention," said Postal Inspector Brian Shannon, who, with FBI agent Tracy Heylmann, now retired, put Truluck behind bars.

"This is bigger than his state case. It gave him status in jail. He is intelligent, but misguided for the most part."

After years of trying to catch him, Truluck became legendary among South Jersey law-enforcement officers for never staying in one place long enough to be arrested.

On June 30, U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden sentenced Truluck to a 10-year sentence and ordered him to pay $451,755 in restitution.

Mansfield man faces 20 years for identity theft

A Dallas woman spent months straightening out her credit after Casarez used her stolen mail to set up a FedEx account in her name and used credit cards to pay for hotel bills and other items.

During a sentencing hearing Friday, nine witnesses described how Casarez destroyed their credit -- and their lives.

Casarez, 22, of Mansfield, took the identities of more than 1,000 people from 33 states and obtained at least $334,000 using credit cards and bank account numbers, prosecutors said.

He also set up a $240,000 line of credit using a woman's name.

As part of his schemes, Casarez impersonated ministers, doctors, lawyers, police officers and private investigators.

FBI: Identity theft still relies on paper, phones

Identity theft, protection to be discussed at Borders

Victims in laptop theft urged to monitor credit

SCV\'s Anti-ID Theft Program Is Tops

Identity theft is non-violent form of terror

Guilty Plea in Identity Theft and Fraud Ring

Citi sends unrequested credit cards

The Worm That Roared

Man arrested in identity theft

Fraud Cops are Swamped

Police Search for Identity Theft Suspect

Arizona leading state in nation for identity theft

KVOA Tuscon reports that Arizona is the number one in the nation, recording the highest number of identity theft cases.

Gary Payne says someone stole almost $4,000 out of his bank account, withdrawing money from ATM's in Argentina.

"I was really scared because I didn't know how I was going to take care of this. It was a real problem. All of a sudden, all your cash is gone," Payne said.

So he fell months behind on his payments.

"They had taken all the money out and I basically couldn't pay for anything," Payne said.

City: Stolen computers held personal information on 3,500 people

Texas Health Resources says worker had access to 8,000 patients\' data

Mortgage data leaked over file network

Five Tucsonans accused of identity theft, bank fraud

Investigators: VA still not protecting against identity theft

GAO: Vets at risk of identity theft

Identity Theft Initiatives, FTC Testifies

Connecticut Says Data on Its Money Was Stolen

Leader in TJX Fraud Gets 5-Year Sentence

Tax Chief Away As Crisis Mounted

Credit card scam hits Lower Cape