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