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IP: ISPI Clips 6.16: Using Credit Reports Crooks Assume YourIdentity & Buy Luxury Cars
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Identity & Buy Luxury Cars
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 00:26:20 -0800
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ISPI Clips 6.16: Using Credit Reports Crooks Assume Your Identity & Buy
Luxury Cars
News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI)
Friday November 6, 1998
[email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This From: The Las Angeles Times, Friday, October 23, 1998
http://www.latimes.com
Grand Theft Auto Enters the Computer Age
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/LIFE/AUTO/AUTONEWS/t000096175.html
Crime: Hackers are using cyberspace to obtain credit information
and purchase luxury vehicles under assumed identities.
By
SCOTT GLOVER,
Times Staff Writer
In a new twist on an old crime, computer-savvy thieves have begun hacking
into credit files and fabricating drivers' licenses, then walking into car
dealerships and buying luxury cars under assumed identities, authorities
said.
After putting about $10,000 down for a new $120,000 Mercedes-Benz,
authorities say, the thief then drives off the lot, leaving behind a
commission-happy salesperson. Within a week, they say, the car will most
likely be in a container bound for resale on foreign shores.
"The problem is growing on a monthly basis," said John Bryan, a Los Angeles
County sheriff's captain who runs a regional anti-car-theft unit.
Bryan estimated that members of his Taskforce for Regional Autotheft
Prevention, or TRAP, arrested about 60 people in 1997 who were running such
scams.
One of last year's victims was Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne
Brathwaite Burke and her husband, William.
In her case, Burke said a con artist took her name from the newspaper and
paid a Georgia jeweler to run a credit check on her to obtain more
information. She said the man then obtained a driver's license in William
Burke's name and went on a spending spree.
Using the Burkes' credit information, the man bought four Yamaha WaveRunner
personal water vehicles and a BMW and tried to purchase a Mercedes-Benz and
Ford Thunderbird.
"We were getting bills in the mail every day," Burke said. "It was driving
me crazy."
She said the man was finally caught when he brought the BMW back to the
dealership to have a trailer hitch installed so he could pull the
WaveRunner behind the car.
In another case last year, authorities said a man established a dummy real
estate company to obtain personal credit histories, then used the
information to make more than $1 million in fraudulent purchases, including
several cars.
Bryan said another scam involved fraudulent applications for car purchases
at a San Gabriel Valley dealership. In that case, investigators seized
eight cars and believe as many as 40 more were purchased and illegally
sold.
The thieves generally don't shop for bargains either, Bryan said.
"They go for Mercedeses, BMWs, Lexuses, you name it."
Bryan said the thieves are typically well-dressed--sometimes even in
suits--and have a calm demeanor as they "shop" for a car.
"They walk in there looking like they can afford it," he said. "They know
what they're doing."
Bryan said the average price of a stolen car is about $60,000, and that
most of those who have been arrested are suspected of stealing numerous
cars.
The thieves usually make tens of thousands of dollars' profit on a single
sale.
Because cases are time-consuming and difficult to prove, Bryan said, an
offender is often charged with only one theft.
The crimes could result in several charges, including grand theft auto and
credit card fraud, punishable by a minimum of three years in prison,
according to a spokesman for the district attorney's office.
Popular markets for the stolen vehicles include China, numerous republics
of the former Soviet Union and the United Arab Emirates, police said.
People who have had their identities stolen and used to purchase the cars
are not liable, Bryan said.
Burke said, even though she was in a position to put pressure on
authorities to solve the case, she spent months trying to clean up her
credit.
"It was a nightmare," she said. "And it could happen to anybody."
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times.
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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [email protected]>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'