If there’s any good news about identity theft, it’s that some thieves are getting prosecuted and put in jail. That doesn’t make the problem go away, though, even for some that are locked up, since a few thieves still conduct their operations from jail, with the help from accomplices on the outside of course. For example, an inmate in California, who was in prison on identity theft charges, just got eight years added onto his sentence for stealing four people’s credit card information and other personal information while he was imprisoned. How he did so is unclear.
What we do know is that once he obtained the information he called his co-conspirators who are not subject to monitored telephone access. They then called the individuals’ credit card companies and they got new cards issued in the victims’ names and sent to their address. Then they went on a bit of a shopping spree. In total, this scam cost the credit companies over $139,000.
Luckily, the victims of the crime were not responsible for the charges put on their credit cards. However, they were surely unnerved that a convicted criminal and his accomplices had access to their personal information. While sometimes it’s obvious how someone got your personal information, such as if you respond to a phishing email or you leave your purse on a public bus, at times it can be hard to tell – and you may never figure it out.
Regardless, it’s smart to get yourself signed up with an identity theft protection service. Once you have protection in place, you have a better chance of keeping your credit and your good name in shape even if your information gets in the hands of identity thieves. That’s because, as a protection plan holder, you’re likely to find out quickly – not months later when strange charges begin to appear on your bank statement. Also, with some plans, you can lock down your information more than you can on your own by simply using a very secure password. You can enjoy insurance to help you recover the costs an identity theft incident can incur too, which is a statement to just how confident identity theft companies are that their services work.
If identity thieves have the wherewithal to get personal information even while they are under the watchful eye of the criminal justice system, it certainly makes sense for you to keep your information under a watchful eye as well. And speaking of criminals, LifeLock recently launched a new service that helps protect you from criminal identity theft. You can read all about it at our LifeLock Command Center review (Editor Note: This is now LifeLock Ultimate Plus).