CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Identity Fraud’ Category

Home Office coughs to larger data loss: “

Another 250,000 records lunched

The Home Office has admitted to losing a quarter of a million more records than it originally thought.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Four million British identities are up for sale on the internet: “The identities of more than four million Britons are being offered for sale on the internet, The Times has learnt.“

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

BBC NEWS | Politics | Straw hit by internet fraudsters

Page last updated at 16:00 GMT, Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Straw hit by internet fraudsters

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been the victim of Nigerian fraudsters who sent out hundreds of e-mails in his name asking for money.

The e-mails claimed he had lost his wallet on charity work in Africa and needed 3,500 US dollars to get home.

Messages headed the Right Hon Jack Straw MP were sent to council bosses, government chiefs and others.

The fraudsters are thought to have hacked into computers at Mr Straw’s Blackburn constituency office.

Mr Straw has confirmed the e-mails had been sent to a “significant number of people” in his address book but he said there were no security issues as it was his Blackburn e-mail address rather than his ministerial account that was targeted.

He told his local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph: “I started getting phone calls from various constituents asking if I was really in Nigeria needing 3,000 dollars.

“It was an issue for constituents, not the government.
(more…)

U.S. Identity Theft Convictions Up 26 Percent, Feds Say: “Identity theft convictions in the United States increased 26 percent in 2007 from the year before, the Bush administration reported Tuesday. Still, 1.6 million complaints of identity theft are on file with the Federal Trade Commission.

(Via Wired News.)

Identity fraud: Plan to release death records to credit agencies: “Death records are to be released in a bid to stop fraudsters stealing the identity of the deceased”

(Via Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk.)

UK retailers ‘unprepared’ for TK Maxx-style hack: “UK retailers are woefully unprepared for the kind of attack that was
perpetrated on the US-based owner of the discount clothing chain TK Maxx,
security experts said today.”

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case: A Missouri woman is accused of using a phony online identity to taunt a girl, who then committed suicide.

In a highly unusual use of a federal law generally employed in computer fraud cases, a federal grand jury here on Thursday indicted a Missouri woman accused of using a phony online identity to trick and taunt a 13-year-old girl, who committed suicide in response to the cyberbaiting.

The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

(Via NYT > Technology.)