Tax refund fraud is a growing crime that costs the federal government billions each year. Eleven members of an identity fraud ring responsible for millions in fraudulent tax refunds were recently arrested in South Florida, an area where identity theft and tax refund fraud are significantly higher than the national average. Read More
Retail Sales Clerk Boosts Commission Buying Goods with Fraudulent Credit Cards
A former employee at Saks Fifth Avenue faces felony credit card abuse charges after using fraudulent credit cards opened in the names of stolen identities to make purchases from his register as a way to earn extra commission. Read More
Retail Clerk Opened Store Credit Cards with Stolen Identities
Two Louisiana residents were arrested and charged with multiple accounts of fraud and identity theft after a retail clerk used stolen identity information to open store credit cards at work while her accomplice used these new accounts to purchase Visa prepaid cards. Read More
IRS May Share Information with Law Enforcement to Fight Tax Return Identity Fraud
Identity thieves filing fraudulent tax returns to claim refund checks have caused headaches for hundreds of thousands of tax payers and the IRS. But proposed legislation may enable the IRS to share taxpayer information with local law enforcement agencies in efforts to combat tax return identity fraud while the IRS also considers a pilot program
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Fraudsters Selling Consumer Credit Reports Obtained from Legitimate Sources
Fraudsters have been selling identity information online in the black market for over a decade, but a recent investigation found fraudsters are selling full credit report information which they were able to obtain from sources such as the AnnualCreditReport.com initiative started by the FTC. Read More
State Creates Program to Reduce Child ID Theft
In recent years child identity theft has been a growing problem, but Trans Union and the state of Utah have teamed up to create a program that flags applications for credit when a child’s Social Security number is used. Read More
FTC Reports Identity Theft Still Leading Consumer Complaint
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tallied over 1.8 million consumer complaints in 2011 of which 15 percent were about identity theft, making this the leading consumer complaint for the twelfth straight year. Read More
Fraudster Posed as Debt Collection Company to Obtain Consumer Identities
A fraudster was sentenced to over 17 years in prison for devising a scam where he registered fake debt collection companies to gain access to consumer PII which he then used to open almost 600 fraudulent credit card accounts. Read More
50 Arrested in Identity Fraud Ring
An investigation by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has led to the arrest of fifty individuals for their involvement in a massive identity theft ring that sold hundreds of U.S. identities on the black market. Read More
Identity Fraud Ring Hijacked Consumer Retail Credit Accounts
An investigation by the New York Attorney General led to the arrest of seven in an identity fraud scheme where the fraudsters impersonated consumers at retail stores in attempts to take over their store credit card accounts, the fraudsters have been accused of operating this scam since at least 2008. Read More
