Many United States citizens are affected by identity theft each year. Celebrities, and high ranking executives and officials are also known to be victims. These victims are sought mostly because of the large amount of financial funds they acquire.
In the United States, identity theft is one of the fastest rising crimes. Elaborate crime rings are now growing. These rings contain various criminals from purse snatchers and pocket pickers, counterfeiters, up to the ring leaders.
Even the chairman of the Federal Reserve was a victim of identity theft. The suspected ring leader in this case was part of a ring where he hired criminals to pick pockets. The ring leader then made fake id’s and run the bank transactions, taking his share of the profit.
The fraud amount reached more than $2.1 million dollars which included transactions from approximately 10 different financial institutions in the DC, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and other areas.
The crime ring was investigated by the US Postal Inspection Service, Secret Service, and the DC Police Department. Their findings of the crimes included items that were used to access victims’ accounts such as fake id’s, banking records, and personal checks.
With identity theft on the rise, everyone from every walk of life can be a victim. These crime rings can consist of many types of criminals that are lurking to prey on any type of victim for their financial information.
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