Start Producing Wealth
4 identity theft suspects arrested at Feather Falls Casino
Last week, authorities arrested four suspects for identity theft after a check was fraudulently used at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, California. The police arrested Isela Gradilla, Giovanni Yang, Angela Vitela, and Bernie Nacpil, all from different parts of California.
These four suspects allegedly defrauded 15 separate victims by using checks with the victims’ account information. This data was obtained using the very common mail-theft tactic where criminals will steal the mail right out of someone’s mailbox in order to obtain financial documents.
The suspects’ car contained check-printing equipment and paper, fake ID cards, bank statements that did not belong to them, and stolen mail. So far, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has only identified 15 victims, but that number could grow larger as the investigation continues.
All 4 suspects are currently in jail on charges of forgery, burglary, and identity theft.
This arrest follows a growing trend in the number of identity theft cases that involve the theft of mail in order to obtain personal information. While many identity thieves simply steal wallets or purses to commit fraud, it’s often easier and more profitable to steal postal mail and siphon money with fraudulent checks or debit cards instead. Criminals sometimes learn all they can about a person and then open new credit cards or obtain loans using that person’s credit.
With many large-scale website and online service break-ins occurring, data leaks have become much more mainstream as well. Instead of stealing postal mail, a hacker can buy, sell, trade, or just hack their own way into private customer databases of nearly any website. In fact last week, Steam (the largest online PC gaming distribution platform) revealed that their servers were hacked and that encrypted passwords and credit card information were compromised. Luckily it was in encrypted, but a dedicated computer hacker can break through many types of encryption in a short amount of time.
It’s important to keep your identity safe, but so much of it is out of your control. There’s no telling when someone will obtain your financial data either through dumpster diving, mail theft, or online data breaches. Services such as LifeLock and Equifax ID Patrol use advanced monitoring to let you know when suspicious activity occurs on your accounts. It’s worth your time to look into these services to see if they make sense for your situation, and hopefully you can avoid being a victim like those who were defrauded in California.
Partners
