Real life Identity Theft (Second case study)
February 12, 2009 – 4:59 pmIn this digital age identity theft to disappear is a bit tuff thing to happen. You may think why I am making such a verdict. Well, while discussing security can we take the human element out of the equation?There is only one answer to this question and we all know that.
In this post I will be writing about a database administrator and how he commits an identity theft fraud. We all know that a database administrator maintains a database of the confidential records of many individuals. These records can be a good raw material for the identity theft criminals.
William Gary Sullivan was such a kind of administrator. He was the senior administrator in Florida. He was working for Certegy Checking Services, it was a vendor for Fidelity National Information Services. The company had the access to the database of the FNIS (Fidelity National Information Services) customers.
I think it is clear that what kind of records were there in the database. Yes, there were the records of confidential information of the customers. The names, addresses and also the financial account information.
You will be amazed to know that Sullivan sold these records with sophisticated planning. He made a company named S&S Computer Services and sold all the information through this company. Like this the identity theft criminals then passed these confidential records to the marketing companies.
When Sullivan was caught at that time he already sold personal information of 8 million people. Can you guess how much he might have earned out of this scam? Approximately $585,000 ! Huge amount indeed.
Well, I personally feel that dishonesty leads to all this scams. Do anyone suggest how some thing like this can be stopped. I would like to hear from my readers if they have any experience of real life identity theft, and then please let us know.
6 Responses to “Real life Identity Theft (Second case study)”
Wow, that is very interesting. I just wonder how long did that "criminal" think that he was going to get away with it. It is probably much easier these days to get personal information. I just don't understand why someone would step so low as to steal money from those that have worked for it. I am glad he got caught. I hope that others will learn from that man mistakes and not do the same thing. Honesty is the best policy.
By Kirsten on Feb 12, 2009
The economic times will increase this type of activity. This will make it tougher for honest people to get, use and spend with credit. Increase the penalty for the crime to decrease the temptation.
By Ric on Feb 12, 2009
Sorry for the delay in getting back to your blog. Interestingly, a friend of mine had her funds from her debit card highjacked earlier today. It appears that she used it at a local grocery store, and had a positive balance. Later today, she tried to access the funds, and they were gone. We all have to be careful in the use of our cards.
By Reggie Greene / The Logistician on Feb 14, 2009
Such misdeeds are rampant here in Malaysia too. Isn't it terrible that it adds up to our woes? It's bad enough we have to contend with snatch thieves and pickpockets, we are not even safe with our identity in our pockets all the time.
By Wenny Yap on Feb 15, 2009
Hi Adriana, i find you blog very interesting and i think this topic will be the real trouble fot the future on the web too.
We should be more careful.
By Francesco on Feb 21, 2009
Hi ur blog is so nice excellent work keep it up ....
By powerblogger on Apr 13, 2009