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Misconduct In Muskegon

Muskegon, Michigan, is a small metropolis located on the eastern coast of Lake Michigan. Typically known for being the largest city on the coast of this Great Lake, in 2009 Muskegon became known for something else: fraud. Twenty people were charged with cashing duplicate Social Security checks.

Misconduct In Muskegon

Millions of Dollars Stolen by Filing False Tax Returns Using Names of Living and Deceased

Over a three-year period from 2005 to 2008, identity thieves in Arizona filed more than 1900 false tax returns, adding up to close to $4 million. The thieves used the names and Social Security Numbers of more than 1900 different people, many of them deceased.

Office Copiers Contain A Wealth Of Personal Data

Social Security Numbers, medical records, financial data, driver's licenses – all of this sensitive information is often stored on copiers without anyone realizing it. Many office copiers have hard drives that can store up to 25,000 documents. Often copiers are resold after being traded in or refurbished, and their contents are more often than not easily accessible and rarely erased.

Even High-Profile People Aren’t Immune

Anna Bernanke, the wife of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, had her purse stolen at a Starbucks. In her wallet was her driver’s license, four credit cards, the checkbook to a joint account, and her Social Security card. This gave the thieves the perfect combination of Mrs. Bernanke’s Social Security Number, date of birth (from her driver’s license), home address and home phone number (from her checks).

Federal Officials Release Mastermind, Public Pays

In 2003, a man named Albert Gonzalez was arrested in New Jersey for a computer crime. Although his crime was nothing too major, Gonzalez aided the Secret Service and federal prosecutors in New Jersey in identifying his former conspirators in the online underworld of credit theft. Gonzalez was subsequently released. In 2009 Gonzalez was again in the news...