$1.4 million Identity Theft Fraud Ring Recruited Bank Employees

In a sign of the financial services industry turmoil has created fertile ground for identity theft by insiders, a major identity theft fraud ring was recently uncovered that stole over $1.4 million with the aid of tellers in at least 3 major banks. According to the New York County District Attorney, the identity theft criminals used the stolen personal information to mostly create counterfeit checks in the thousands. By fraudulently cashing and depositing the counterfeit checks, the defendants stole over $1.4 million from one bank’s accounts and substantial additional sums from other banks. "Victims of this scam included private individuals, corporations, religious institutions, hospitals, and schools, as well as city and state government agencies." While every major retail bank in Manhattan was targeted, the following banks were disclosed in the recent indictment as part of an on-going investigation : JP Morgan Chase TD/Commerce Wachovia HSBC The fraud ring would not have been as successful in their identity theft fraund operation without the aid of bank staff. "These employees, often tellers, had access both to the banks’ computer systems and to large numbers of valid checks processed during legitimate customer transactions. In return for cash payments, the recruited tellers photocopied valid customer checks and printed out copies of customer profiles, which contained the customers’ names, addresses, social security numbers, bank account numbers and account balances." Serious personal information used in a very serious identity theft fraud crime - one which may very well still yet to be fully uncovered as the investigation continues possibly involving these additional financial institutions: Some of the other financial institutions affected by this group’s criminal activities are Bank of America Citibank, Capitol One Bank Washington Mutual Bank EAB Bank Banco Popular Amalgamated Bank M & T Bank Sovereign Bank First National Bank United Bank Citizens Bank Fleet Bank With the scale and scope of this latest insider fueled identity theft fraud, this case has the opportunity to become of one of the the largest in 2009. So, our tip for today is to take action by not waiting for the identity theft criminals and the banks to notify you of your financial future being ruined. Check out your bank statements if you transact with any of the financial institutions listed above. Also, for the on-going prevention of identity theft, it would be wise to institute automatic credit monitoring on all of your major banking and credit accounts. Finally, as your social security number (ssn) can be used in other major forms of fraud such as medical identity theft and arrest warrant scams both of which can put you in jail - get your public information profile (pip) to review for these very serious forms of identity theft that no major credit bureau report was ever designed to catch . This article may be published in it's entirety on your site. Article courtesy of

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This episode was published on Jun 8, 2009.

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