| Identity theft is a federal crime under the Identity Theft | | | | Turner's names! Law enforcement officers called it |
| and Assumption Deterrence Act. It occurs when a con | | | | one of the most ambitious identity theft scams they |
| artist uses your personal information, such as name, | | | | had ever seen, a hi-tech scheme of Hollywood |
| mailing address, Social Security number, credit card | | | | proportions. Even though the police arrested Abdallah |
| number, birth date to set up a clone identity, which then | | | | five years ago, they are still trying to trace the |
| buys merchandise, takes loans and makes other | | | | complex electronic trail to figure out exactly how much |
| financial transactions. The impersonator keeps the loot, | | | | money was siphoned.Of the recent high-profile identity |
| while you get stuck with the bad credit. Identity theft | | | | theft scams, the MphasiS BFL - Citibank case is |
| scams have received their fair share of media | | | | particularly noteworthy, because of the ease with |
| attention in recent years.The crime of identity theft has | | | | which five young employees from MsourcE, an Indian |
| reached epidemic proportions, with identity theft scams | | | | call center allegedly pulled off a financial fraud worth |
| making headlines more and more every day. One of | | | | nearly half-a-million dollars. The accused were no |
| the high-profile identity theft scams involving a New | | | | geeks, and did not break through firewalls or decoded |
| York's restaurant busboy, Abraham Abdallah, is the | | | | encrypted software. Instead, they devised a simple |
| largest identity theft in the history of the Internet. | | | | modus operandi. Being the authorized e-banking |
| Abdallah, a 32-year-old high school dropout, breached | | | | service providers to Citibank, these MsourcE |
| the private finances of 217 of the Forbes 400 | | | | employees were privy to confidential details of various |
| wealthiest people in America. Using a few | | | | account holders. The only pieces missing were the |
| web-enabled cell phones, virtual voicemail and a public | | | | passwords, which these employees apparently got by |
| library computer, the so-called "busboy" is said to have | | | | "sweet-talking" the account holders.Identity theft does |
| guessed the passwords of his favorite tycoons, input | | | | not have to be big and news worthy to ruin peoples |
| personal information so conveniently available in | | | | lives. The small time con artist can assume several |
| Forbes magazine, swiped Social Security numbers, and | | | | different identities and ruin the financial lives of dozens |
| accessed brokerage accounts.Soon Abdallah forged | | | | of people, semingly overnight!Keith Londrie II is a well |
| bank's stationeries deployed multiple couriers to | | | | known author. For more information on Identity Theft, |
| escape detection, and had credit cards in Steven | | | | please visit Identity Theft for a wealth of information. |
| Spielberg, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and Ted | | | | |