Identity Theft At Memphis Restaurant

I've mentioned before that credit card skimmers have been used for identity theft at restaurants. However, that's not the only way a restaurant employee can steal your credit card number.

A recent news report says that Brad Taylor, a cook at Paulette's Restaurant in Midtown Memphis, copied customer credit card records found in the restaurant and sold them for $10 a page. Roderick Webb and Marlon Cox used the information to buy products online and then sell the merchandise to people in the community. Taylor, Webb, and Cox are charged with identity theft trafficking and conspiracy to commit identity theft trafficking. Taylor and Webb also face an identity theft charge. Customers who have used their credit cards at Paulette's since January 2007 are encouraged to carefully review their credit card statements.

So even if you carefully watch a waiter ring up your bill, there is still a chance that your credit card number can be stolen if a dishonest employee has access to the records. Wonderful!

IT Company Closes After Data Breach

Here is another illustration of why we are never completely immune to identity theft no matter how careful we are with our personal information.

Verus Inc., an IT company that built and maintained Websites and other services for forty to sixty hospitals in the United States, was implicated for the security breaches for at least five hospitals and has gone out of business after investors pulled the plug after a blunder that caused a great deal of client data to be exposed to the outside world.

All breaches have been attributed to one incident when Verus employees left the firewall down after transferring from one server to another. Find out more about the incident here.

While it seems a little harsh, those handling sensitive data can not afford to be so careless. Even if the investors hadn't refused funding, the company would have probably closed anyway. Once the information was released, I doubt that any client would have trusted them. Patient data from some of these hospitals has been compromised. Although no one has reported identity theft as a result of this breach, the damage is still done and the possibility for identity theft is there.

Identity Thieves Target Celebrities

Police busted a major identity theft ring operating out of a home in Northeast Philadelphia. Andre Holmes and an accomplice used change of address forms to have victims' mail delivered to their home and used personal victim information to create checking accounts and obtain credit cards. Investigators believe this information was obtained by one of the suspects during her previous job with the IRS.

There are seventeen confirmed victims, but the number could rise into the hundreds. Some of the targeted victims include Paris Hilton, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez.

I've heard of setting the bar high, but I'm not sure how they expected to get away with this. Sure, Paris Hilton is wealthy enough that she probably doesn't worry too much about checking her credit report often, but any company who has done business with her in the past may find it suspicious that she's suddenly receiving all of her credit cards and bills at a home in Northeast Philadelphia.