Government Busts Identity Theft Ring That Targeted Forbes 400 Richest

[OhioChick]

A 24-year-old Russian and four co-conspirators are accused of stealing $1.5 million by obtaining victims' personal identifying information.

By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek
August 17, 2007 01:57 PM


Government authorities arrested and indicted five members of an alleged identity theft ring that was targeting billionaires from Forbes magazine's ranking of the 400 richest Americans.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced on Thursday that the defendants -- four of whom were arrested Thursday and are in custody in Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Kentucky -- have been charged with stealing $1.5 million and attempting to steal another $10.7 million from their victims' financial accounts. Another defendant, Igor Klopov, was arrested in May and is in custody in New York.

Klopov, a 24-year-old Russian, was the alleged ring leader who mined the Internet to obtain victims' personal identifying information. The DA's office in Manhattan reported that he was arrested in May after he came to New York to claim $7 million in gold that he thought had been purchased with money stolen from one of his victims.

Forbes.com reported that Texas billionaire Charles J. Wyly Jr. and other wealthy victims were the targets of the identity theft ring. Wyly, 73, and his brother, Sam, headed the world's largest arts and crafts chain, Michaels Stores, before it was sold last year for $6 billion.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201800899

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Bad idea. You might expect it would be foreigners.

After all, native born know that going after the rich will provoke a massive response. Steal from the poor; that's the American way.

[TankLV]

2. Wake me when they actually do something for the LITTLE people

you know - the AVERAGE citizens.

I could care less about the BILLIONAIRS - they can afford it and can take it - they have ample recourse to get justice, whereas the little people suffer for YEARS often with NO justice...

Fuck 'em...

[Deja Q]

3. I know! Let's offshore jobs to Russia!

Like how offshoring has helped China, whose piracy record to this date remains just as antagonistic as it had yesterday!!!

Still, the cynic in me would be tempted to say "No good deed goes unpunished"...