identity theft

May 18, 2017

Fraudsters Exploited Lax Security at Equifax’s TALX Payroll Division

This post was originally published on this siteIdentity thieves who specialize in tax refund fraud had big help this past tax year from Equifax, one of the nation’s largest consumer data brokers and credit bureaus. The trouble stems from TALX, an Equifax subsidiary that provides online payroll, HR and tax services. Equifax says crooks were able to reset the 4-digit PIN given to customer employees as a password and then steal W-2 tax data after successfully answering personal questions about those employees. In a boilerplate text sent to several affected customers, Equifax said the unauthorized access to customers’ employee tax records happened between […]
September 11, 2017

The Equifax Breach: What You Should Know

This post was originally published on this siteIt remains unclear whether those responsible for stealing Social Security numbers and other data on as many as 143 million Americans from big-three credit bureau Equifax intend to sell this data to identity thieves. But if ever there was a reminder that you — the consumer — are ultimately responsible for protecting your financial future, this is it. Here’s what you need to know and what you should do in response to this unprecedented breach. Some of the Q&As below were originally published in a 2015 story, How I Learned to Stop Worrying […]
November 8, 2018

U.S. Secret Service Warns ID Thieves are Abusing USPS’s Mail Scanning Service

This post was originally published on this siteA year ago, KrebsOnSecurity warned that “Informed Delivery,” a new offering from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that lets residents view scanned images of all incoming mail, was likely to be abused by identity thieves and other fraudsters unless the USPS beefed up security around the program and made it easier for people to opt out. This week, the U.S. Secret Service issued an internal alert warning that many of its field offices have reported crooks are indeed using Informed Delivery to commit various identity theft and credit card fraud schemes. Image: USPS The internal […]
August 27, 2020

Confessions of an ID Theft Kingpin, Part II

This post was originally published on this siteYesterday’s piece told the tale of Hieu Minh Ngo, a hacker the U.S. Secret Service described as someone who caused more material financial harm to more Americans than any other convicted cybercriminal. Ngo was recently deported back to his home country after serving more than seven years in prison for running multiple identity theft services. He now says he wants to use his experience to convince other cybercriminals to use their skills for good. Here’s a look at what happened after he got busted. Hieu Minh Ngo, 29, in a recent photo. Part […]