Identity thieves use sophisticated techniques to steal money
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Leah Broadway was running on the treadmill at her Alexandria gym when someone stole her purse from her car parked outside.
The thieves got just about all they needed: passport, checkbook, bank card and Social Security number. But with the threat of identity theft so prevalent, Broadway knew just what to do. She canceled her credit cards. She closed her bank account and opened a new one. When the second account was drained the next day, she closed it and opened a third.
None of that mattered. The thieves got what they wanted that day in September. Identity thieves are getting more and more sophisticated and harder to stop. The ring that stole Broadway's purse has tentacles from central Virginia to Baltimore and even reaches into Spain. Police say the scam is increasingly difficult to track because the criminals are on the move from one jurisdiction to another and act so quickly after they steal an identity that they are counting their money before the victims know how badly they've been compromised.
Broadway knew things had taken a strange turn when her bank called and said someone had cashed a $1,490 check in Baltimore County using her name and identification -- and the check that was cashed belonged to a woman she knew.
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Leah Broadway was running on the treadmill at her Alexandria gym when someone stole her purse from her car parked outside.
The thieves got just about all they needed: passport, checkbook, bank card and Social Security number. But with the threat of identity theft so prevalent, Broadway knew just what to do. She canceled her credit cards. She closed her bank account and opened a new one. When the second account was drained the next day, she closed it and opened a third.
None of that mattered. The thieves got what they wanted that day in September. Identity thieves are getting more and more sophisticated and harder to stop. The ring that stole Broadway's purse has tentacles from central Virginia to Baltimore and even reaches into Spain. Police say the scam is increasingly difficult to track because the criminals are on the move from one jurisdiction to another and act so quickly after they steal an identity that they are counting their money before the victims know how badly they've been compromised.
Broadway knew things had taken a strange turn when her bank called and said someone had cashed a $1,490 check in Baltimore County using her name and identification -- and the check that was cashed belonged to a woman she knew.
(More here.)
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