Gentle Lady Used Her Good Looks To Steal Identities and Funds From Her Victims

Maria Christina Johnson

[From article]
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrested Maria Christina Johnson who they say conned high-rollers and used them to fund her life of luxury. Johnson also went by the fake names Maria Hendricks, Gia Hendricks, Maria Christina Gia, or Maria Hainka, and investigators says she has been committing fraud since 1997.
The Sheriff’s office detailed on Facebook the alleged scheme:
” ..it was determined Suspect Johnson’s mode of operation was to capitalize on her physical attraction and meet victims through well-known dating websites and home rental websites. Once Suspect Johnson gained access to a victim’s home, she located their personal identifying information and opened lines of credit without their permission. She would change their mailing address and assume the victim’s identity. Once she gleaned information about the victim’s personal connections, she moved on to steal the identities of their relatives and friends. “
Johnson was ultimately arrested after members of the task force found out she was staying at a high-end hotel in Santa Barbara County where she allegedly charged more than $100,000 in expenses. Investigators report that she is originally from the Washington state area, and listed her occupation as a “dog trainer.” She is currently in jail facing felony charges with a $2 million bond.

http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/woman-used-her-good-looks-to-con-high-rollers-and-fund-life-of-luxury-cops/

Woman Used Her Good Looks to Con High-Rollers and Fund Life of Luxury: Cops
by Rachel Stockman

6:37 pm, May 9th, 2016

Students Unable To Sign Own Names

Photo: Getty Images

[From article]
Many Big Apple students, including the children of several state lawmakers, can’t even sign their own names, it was revealed at an educational budget hearing in Albany today.
“Not only is it sad, but it’s a security issue,” said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI/Brooklyn).
[. . .]
students have become so tech-oriented that they never learn how to sign their John Hancock, which renders them unable to properly ink contracts, checks and credit cards.
Malliotakis said the penmanship problem was brought to her attention while helping one of her constituents fill out a voter registration form. He printed his name, and when she told him to actually sign it, he insisted that was his signature.
Even the 11-year-old daughter of veteran Harlem legislator Herman “Denny” Farrell doesn’t know how to sign her name.
“And she’s smarter than me,” Farrell said of his daughter, Prince, who attends a private school in Harlem. “They don’t teach it. I’m going to go home now and teach her handwriting.”
LeRoy Comrie, a senator from Queens, told Malliotakis his son never learned that skill either.
“Can you imagine?” Malliotakis told The Post. “Not only does it mean you can’t sign a business contract, but it makes you vulnerable to identity theft because anyone can just go ahead and print your name.”

http://nypost.com/2016/01/27/many-nyc-students-cant-even-sign-their-own-names/

Many NYC students can’t even sign their own names
By Kirstan Conley
New York Post
January 27, 2016 4:12pm

Quincy, Massachusetts Gentleman Arrested, Charged With Online Impersonating Women, Soliciting Rape and Home Invasions

Photo: Angela Rowlings
ARRAIGNED: Thomas M. Sheehan pleaded not guilty yesterday in Haverhill District Court to charges including soliciting rape and soliciting kidnapping.

[From article]
Investigators say a former limo driver is suspected of posting the names, photographs and addresses of “numerous” unsuspecting women on an adult website, and, posing as them, inviting men to break into their homes and rape and torture them.
Thomas M. Sheehan, 45, of Quincy, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Haverhill District Court to charges of soliciting rape, soliciting kidnapping and soliciting assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with one of the cases. Thomas Ralph, Attorney General Maura Healey’s chief of cybercrime prosecutions, said Sheehan not only put up pictures of a Groveland woman on the adult website, but her two juvenile daughters, as well.
[. . .]
Patten set bail at $15,000 cash and ordered that if Sheehan posts it, he be on GPS monitoring and 24-hour lockdown at home. He is also forbidden from using computers or the Internet, or from having any contact with children.
Sheehan’s attorney, Michael J. Baldassarre, protested. “I would purport to the court that it was role-play fantasy only,” he said, “not meant to be acted upon.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/01/investigators_man_posed_as_women_invited_rape_torture

Investigators: Man posed as women, invited rape, torture
Laurel J. Sweet

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Career Cambridge, MA Conman Arrested in New York City

Photo:JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Jeremy Wilson went before judge Heidi Cesare wearing a grey Harvard Law School hoodie, dark blue
jeans and a grim expression.

[From article]
Cambridge Police report the arrest of a New York City man on a variety of charges related to the high life he allegedly tried to settle into for a couple months at a Third Street apartment complex that included draining $70,000 from a local design company's coffers and using some of the funds to lease a BMW SUV across the river in Boston.
Police say it all started when Jeremy Daniel Wilson, if that's really his name, 42, created the best Boston-area persona since Clark Rockefeller: Jeremiah Asimov-Beckingham, an Army veteran with traumatic brain injuries from an IED explosion in Afghanistan - and also a pilot for British Airways. Cambridge Police say the earliest they could trace him back in Cambridge was December 3, which makes sense since he was only released from federal prison on Nov. 19 after serving a six-year sentence for impersonating an Army officer and stealing a judge's car.
In Cambridge, police say, the newly minted Asimov-Beckingham set up a local bank account under that name, using several fraudulent documents, including a bogus driver's license, Social-Security card and a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. He then got a discount on an apartment on Third Street by claiming to be both a veteran and an airline pilot - even as he was maintaining a $5,000-a-month apartment in lower Manhattan. Oh, and he used his fake discharge papers to sign up for and obtain veteran's benefits, Cambridge PD says.
He also somehow used the ID and more forged documents to suck $70,000 out of a Cambridge design firm's bank account, police say, adding he also stole a computer from MIT.
Police say that on Dec. 31, New York City Police found the BMW. And then, according to New York Magazine, they conned the con man: They contacted him and said the car had been impounded as evidence in a shooting but that he could come by to pick it up - which he did.
At his arraignment in New York on similar charges there, he wore a Harvard Law School hoodie.

http://www.universalhub.com/2016/con-man-long-record-goes-whirlwind-fraud-tour

Con man with long record goes on whirlwind fraud tour of Cambridge, police say
By adamg
Fri, 01/15/2016 - 2:10pm

* * *


DCPI/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
More than 200 forged checks, military uniforms, fake passports from Canada and the U.K., and other false official documents were recovered from the 10 Hanover Square apartment he rented.

[From article]
A seasoned grifter who posed as a wounded veteran and used stolen loot for a Manhattan pad gave a “full, video-recorded confession” to his latest antics — less than two months after leaving prison for similar crimes, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jeremy Wilson, 42 — whose true name is unknown because of his rampant use of fake identities in a “Catch Me If You Can”-like career of scamming — was ordered held on $1 million bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
[. . .]
“The defendant is a brazen criminal who has spent his entire adult life as a con artist and identity thief,” Assistant District Attorney Diego Diaz said.
Wilson went before judge Heidi Cesare wearing a grey Harvard Law School hoodie, dark blue jeans and a grim expression.
He was back to scheming right after his release from prison on Nov. 19 after serving a six-year federal prison sentence “for crimes that included forging the signature of a federal judge, aggravated identity theft, fraud, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle,” Diaz said.
[. . .]
At the prestigious college, Wilson hung around campus and “stole computers and an MIT corporate credit card.”
“He also was able to obtain a corporate apartment by posing as an executive of British Airlines,” the prosecutor added.
On Dec. 12 in Boston, Wilson allegedly used the name Jeremiah Asimov-Beckingham and fake identification documents to lease a 2016 BMW X3, worth at least $50,000.
Using phony checks and the hijacked bank account of a Boston company, he stole $40,000 and skipped off to New York in his new ride.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/man-posed-wounded-veteran-held-1m-bail-article-1.2488158

Conman who posed as wounded veteran held on $1M bail after giving 'full, video-recorded confession'
BY SHAYNA JACOBS

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, January 6, 2016, 9:50 PM

O'Keefe Exposes Connection of Syrian Migrants Using Fake Passports, to Hillary Clinton

[From article]
A new undercover video released by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas shows Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign vice chair, Huma Abedin, assuring an undercover reporter that the Democratic presidential candidate is committed to allowing Syrian refugees to settle in the U.S. and that Republican opposition to the plan is “really scary.”
The video, shared exclusively with The Daily Caller, also includes new hidden cam footage of Syrian refugees in Greece singing Clinton’s praises. O’Keefe’s group released a first installment of the video last week of the same Syrian men discussing using fake passports to enter Europe.[. . .]
In that video, filmed just after ISIS terrorists killed 130 people in Paris, the Syrian men discussed using fake passports to travel to Germany and perhaps to the U.S. And asked if the like or dislike Clinton, they said they have a favorable view of the former secretary of state.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/23/okeefe-releases-undercover-video-of-huma-abedin-discussing-syrian-refugees-video/

O’Keefe Releases Undercover Video Of Huma Abedin Discussing Syrian Refugees [VIDEO]
CHUCK ROSS, Reporter
10:00 AM 11/23/2015

One Million Digital Fingerprints of U.S. Government Employees Hacked

More and more theft of personal information enabling identity theft. Yet the mindless politicians and government bureaucrats continue to encourage more and more Wi-Fi and internet usage without providing or requiring informed consent for use of their personal private information to the users of this technology. It is not only a problem of a dumbed down population but a dumbed down government.  

[From article]

The Office of Personnel Management announced last week that the personal data for 21.5 million people had been stolen. But for national security professionals and cybersecurity experts, the more troubling issue is the theft of 1.1 million fingerprints.
Much of their concern rests with the permanent nature of fingerprints and the uncertainty about just how the hackers intend to use them. Unlike a Social Security number, address, or password, fingerprints cannot be changed—once they are hacked, they're hacked for good. And government officials have less understanding about what adversaries could do or want to do with fingerprints, a knowledge gap that undergirds just how frightening many view the mass lifting of them from OPM.
"It's probably the biggest counterintelligence threat in my lifetime," said Jim Penrose, former chief of the Operational Discovery Center at the National Security Agency and now an executive vice president at the cybersecurity company Darktrace. "There's no situation we've had like this before, the compromise of our fingerprints. And it doesn't have any easy remedy or fix in the world of intelligence."

[. . .]

Questions also remain about what the ultimate goal of the OPM hackers is, and the administration so far continues to refuse to publicly blame China for the intrusion. Some have likened the breach to an enormous surveillance operation, one that Beijing conducted in order to build databases on the ins and out of the U.S. government and to potentially coerce, blackmail, or bribe officials into divulging closely guarded secrets.
Whatever the motives, the stolen fingerprints are viewed as a uniquely important and unprecedented data heist—one that could reap huge rewards for the hackers for decades to come.

[. . .]

Part of the worry, cybersecurity experts say, is that fingerprints are part of an exploding field of biometric data, which the government is increasingly getting in the business of collecting and storing. Fingerprints today are used to run background checks, verify identities at borders, and unlock smartphones, but the technology is expected to boom in the coming decades in both the public and private sectors.
"There's a big concern [with the OPM hack] not because of how much we're using fingerprints currently, but how we're going to expand using the technology in the next 5-10 years," said Robert Lee, cofounder of Dragos Security, which develops cybersecurity software.

[. . .]

Also problematic is that there is "no way to reissue a fingerprint," Lee said, meaning that once a set is in the hands of a foreign adversary they are vulnerable as long as that person is working in government.
That reality could create a squeeze on government for decades to come, as agencies may be forced to forgo fingerprints for things like two-factor authentication and instead rely on another biometric, such as facial recognition or iris scans. But those could also someday be hacked, as the OPM hack showed that just about anything stored in a government database can be up for grabs.

[. . .]

But fingerprints are likely only going to grow in importance for the government in the coming years, he said, and that is true for hackers, too.
"You never know down the line where we are going to use the fingerprints," Kesanupalli said.
Penrose, the former NSA official, also speculated that most of the stolen fingerprints were likely digital scans and not the older ink-based records, which may suggest that the bulk of the prints belong to active or recent employees.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/opm-hack-fingerprints-china-20150714

How Much Damage Can the OPM Hackers Do With a Million Fingerprints?
The pilfering of 1.1 million fingerprints is “probably the biggest counterintelligence threat in my lifetime,” one former NSA official said.
BY DUSTIN VOLZ

July 14, 2015

Cambridge Police Warn About ATM Skimmers

[From alert]
The Cambridge Police Department reminds ATM users to be aware of skimming devices at area ATMs. These skimming devices are being used as part of an ongoing scheme by thieves to steal account information from customers and defraud banks. In recent weeks, skimming devices have been discovered in the Greater Boston area, including Cambridge.
Special attention is being placed on ATMs by Cambridge Police patrol officers, particularly during the hours of bank closures. The Cambridge Police and its Investigations Unit are working with local banks and educating regional and branch managers about these schemes, which are not isolated to Cambridge.
[. . .]
An ATM skimmer is an illegal activity that involves the installation of a device generally while a branch is closed, usually undetectable by ATM users, that secretly records bank account data when the user inserts an ATM card into the machine or an ATM door card reader. Criminals can then encode the stolen data onto a blank card and use it to steal from the customer’s bank account.
The Cambridge Police advises local citizens to use precaution and suggests following these tips to help you avoid falling victim to skimmers:
- Inspect ATMs, gas pumps or credit card readers before using them. Be suspicious if you see anything loose, crooked, damaged or if you notice scratches or tape residue.
- When entering your PIN, block the keypad with your other hand to prevent possible hidden cameras from recording your number.
- If possible, use an ATM at an inside location.
- Be careful of ATMs in tourist areas, as they tend to be popular targets of skimmers.
- If your ATM card is not returned after a transaction or after hitting cancel, immediately contact the financial institution that issued the card.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150714/NEWS/150718647

Cambridge Police warn of ATM skimming schemes
Posted Jul. 14, 2015 at 9:43 AM
CAMBRIDGE The following is a citizen advisory sent out by the Cambridge Police Department.

Computer Experts Told US Senate in 1998 The Internet Was Not Secure, and Vulnerable to Hacking

Members of L0pht, including, from left, Tan, Kingpin, Weld Pond, Mudge and Brian Oblivion, rented a van for their trip to Washington for their Senate testimony in May 1998.
The hackers outside their hotel on the morning of their testimony: from left, Kingpin, Brian Oblivion, Weld Pond, Tan, Mudge (kneeling), Space Rogue and Stefan von Neumann.

The video embedded in this article shows the complete inability of government to address its primary function, to protect the citizens and the nation. That is the reason the federal government was created. These seven young men took time to travel to Washington DC to explain to politicians what they knew as fact. Typically politicians ignored these citizens and instead focused on seeking votes and campaign contributions. It is why so many people stopped wasting their time talking to politicians. They never listen. 

What makes this even more obscene is the supreme genius in the White House with his degrees from Columbia and Harvard Universities, indicates his destructive goals by forcing a flawed health care system on the nation, that made delivery of health care worse.  Using financial incentives it encourages medical providers to place medical records online. This facilitates obtaining not just personal identifiers for theft of money and identities, but also the medical vulnerabilities of all citizens. What a great idea to make all citizens vulnerable to harm, in the name of good.

[This is part three of three parts of report on internet security or lack thereof. Links to first two parts are embedded at the below link.]
[From article]
The seven young men sitting before some of Capitol Hill’s most powerful lawmakers weren’t graduate students or junior analysts from some think tank. No, Space Rogue, Kingpin, Mudge and the others were hackers who had come from the mysterious environs of cyberspace to deliver a terrifying warning to the world.
Your computers, they told the panel of senators in May 1998, are not safe — not the software, not the hardware, not the networks that link them together. The companies that build these things don’t care, the hackers continued, and they have no reason to care because failure costs them nothing. And the federal government has neither the skill nor the will to do anything about it.
“If you’re looking for computer security, then the Internet is not the place to be,” said Mudge, then 27 and looking like a biblical prophet with long brown hair flowing past his shoulders. The Internet itself, he added, could be taken down “by any of the seven individuals seated before you” with 30 minutes of well-choreographed keystrokes.
The senators — a bipartisan group including John Glenn, Joseph I. Lieberman and Fred D. Thompson — nodded gravely, making clear that they understood the gravity of the situation. “We’re going to have to do something about it,” Thompson said.
What happened instead was a tragedy of missed opportunity, and 17 years later the world is still paying the price in rampant insecurity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/06/22/net-of-insecurity-part-3/

NET OF INSECURITY
A disaster foretold — and ignored
LOpht’s warnings about the Internet drew notice but little action

Story by Craig Timberg

White House Negligence Enabled Chinese Hackers To Steal Government Employees Personal Information

Chinese hackers obtained all personnel records of U.S. government employees. No one knows what they will do with this information. The misguided White House demanded that all medical records be online using taxpayer funds to encourage medical facilities and professionals to place the information online. In another level of clueless public officials making policy the Cambridge City Council (and other governmental bodies) encouraged Wi-Fi nodes be installed across the city to allow everyone to enjoy access to the internet. There was no discussion of the lack of security of using this new technology. My queries to city officials who are teaching people to use Facebook without explaining how their information is a business went unanswered. Be prepared for any and all of your personal information being available to anyone with evil intent as easily as it is to those with good intentions. 

[From article]
Hackers stole personnel data and Social Security numbers for every federal employee, a government worker union said Thursday, asserting that the cyber theft of U.S. employee information was more damaging than the Obama administration has acknowledged.
[. . .]
The OPM data file contains the records of non-military, non-intelligence executive branch employees, which covers most federal civilian employees but not, for example, members of Congress and their staffs.
The union believes the hackers stole military records and veterans' status information, address, birth date, job and pay history, health insurance, life insurance and pension information; and age, gender and race data
[. . .]



"We believe that Social Security numbers were not encrypted, a cybersecurity failure that is absolutely indefensible and outrageous," Cox said in the letter. The union called the breach "an abysmal failure on the part of the agency to guard data that has been entrusted to it by the federal workforce."
Samuel Schumach, an OPM spokesman, said that "for security reasons, we will not discuss specifics of the information that might have been compromised."
The central personnel data file contains up to 780 separate pieces of information about an employee.
[. . .]
In the Senate on Thursday, Democrats blocked a Republican effort to add a cybersecurity bill to a sweeping defense measure. The vote was 56-40, four votes short of the number necessary.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOVERNMENT_HACKED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-11-15-58-33

Jun 11, 8:09 PM EDT
UNION: HACKERS HAVE PERSONNEL DATA ON EVERY FEDERAL EMPLOYEE
BY KEN DILANIAN
AP INTELLIGENCE WRITER

IRS Records Hacked, 100,000 Taxpayers At Risk

IRS is getting hacked. Consider the government's forcing medical records being placed online as part of the new health insurance law. That enables theft of medical information which can be more threatening, to the health and lives of the patients. Minimal concerns expressed by politicians, medical professionals and patient advocates. Is there anything imposed by the White House that benefits ordinary American taxpayers and voters? 

[From article]

Sophisticated criminals used an online service run by the IRS to access personal tax information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, part an elaborate scheme to steal identities and claim fraudulent tax refunds, the IRS said Tuesday.
The thieves accessed a system called "Get Transcript," where taxpayers can get tax returns and other filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address, the IRS said."We're confident that these are not amateurs," said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with."
Koskinen wouldn't say whether investigators believe the criminals are based overseas — or where they obtained enough personal information about the taxpayers to access their returns. The IRS has launched a criminal investigation. The agency's inspector general is also investigating.
Identity thieves, both foreign and domestic, have stepped up their efforts in recent years to claim fraudulent tax refunds. The agency estimates it paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent refunds to identity thieves in 2013.
"Eighty percent of the of the identity theft we're dealing with and refund fraud is related to organized crime here and around the world," Koskinen said. "These are extremely sophisticated criminals with access to a tremendous amount of data."
[. . .]



Thieves can also use the information to claim fraudulent tax refunds in the future.
[. . .]
Tax returns can include a host of personal information that can help someone steal an identity, including Social Security numbers and birthdates of dependents and spouses. The IRS said the thieves appeared to already have a lot of personal information about the victims.
The IRS said it is notifying taxpayers whose information was accessed.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/apnewsbreak-irs-thieves-stole-tax-info-100000-31317464

APNewsBreak: IRS Says Thieves Stole Tax Info From 100,000
WASHINGTON

May 26, 2015, 5:59 PM ET
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

Associated Press

LAPD Shoots Dead Homeless Man Who Was Impersonating A French Citizen. Previously Served 15 Years in Prison For Bank Robbery

Police can be seen pointing their weapons at the homeless man in Los Angeles in a video posted to Facebook.

[From article]
When a black homeless man was shot dead by police on Skid Row on Sunday, the shooting was seen as yet another example of white policemen in the United States being too quick to reach for their guns. But the full story behind the man's death – and his remarkable life – has emerged as something far more complex.
The 39-year-old identified by police after his death as Charley Saturmin Robinet was actually using a fake identity, stolen from a Frenchman, to try and make a career in Hollywood.
The man known to his Skid Row friends as "Africa" or "Cameroon" had stolen Mr Robinet's identity, and in the late 1990s used it to acquire a French passport to come to the United States. He moved to Los Angeles, and, according to the Los Angeles Times, began taking acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse – a drama school whose alumni include George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer and Alec Baldwin.
But he struggled to pay the fees, and in 2000 was arrested after holding up a bank in the LA suburb of Thousand Oaks.
Wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, the man burst into a Wells Fargo Bank and ordered everyone down on the floor. He jumped the counter and demanded money from a teller. He dragged the bank teller to the vault, and when the teller didn't have the key to open it, he pistol-whipped and kicked him, court documents state.

[. . .]

When he was shot on Sunday police identified him from his fingerprints, which matched those of the bank heist committed by "Charley Robinet" in 2000.
[. . .]
But French authorities came forward late on Tuesday and said that Robinet is a law-abiding citizen who is "alive and well in France."
Axel Cruau, the French consul general in Los Angeles, told the LA Times that the identity theft was discovered after the man was convicted of the bank robbery, and officials began preparing the paperwork to deport him, thinking he was a French citizen. French officials notified their US counterparts when they realised the man was not the real Robinet – but did not know what happened after that.
Mr Cruau said his office had contacted LAPD officials on Tuesday to let know the man identified as Robinet was an impostor.
"He fooled a lot of people – including us – years ago," said Mr Cruau.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11448767/LA-homeless-man-shot-dead-by-police-had-stolen-Frenchmans-identity-to-follow-Hollywood-dream.html

LA homeless man shot dead by police had stolen Frenchman's identity to follow Hollywood dream
A homeless man shot dead by police in Los Angeles was a convicted bank robber – who arrived in Hollywood hoping to make it as an actor after stealing Frenchman's identity

By Harriet Alexander, and Nick Allen in Los Angeles
11:56AM GMT 04 Mar 2015

US Department of Education Computers Used For Identity Thefts And To View Child Pornography

What I admire are government priorities. This report exposes criminal abuses of the US Department of Education which issued ultimatums to universities so that the federal agency could take jurisdiction over sex crimes on campuses, an abomination against American  jurisprudence. The universities rolled over to have their collective bellies scratched and rubbed so that taxpayer grants would not be jeopardized.  But also no one was watching these government taxpayer funded criminals who abused their power. No police, no Communists, no socialists, no FBI informants, no psychologists at Harvard Medical School, no Harvard University campus police or building superintendents. No Harvard University lawyers and their mistresses, who stir up controversies to harass a 70-year-old man, who survived 45 previous years of criminal abuses by the above mentioned groups. So what is it with these sociopaths who harass me every day disturbing my sleep every one or two hours, and tampering with my telephone, my computer and my USPS mail? Is that what the most prestigious university and the governments in Massachusetts have as their highest priority while criminals run wild using US Department of Education computers and private data? 

[From article]
Government employees have been caught stealing students' personal information to apply for loans, credit cards and set up new cell phone accounts,Daily Mail Online has learned.
Reports on breaches of staff conduct inside the Department of Education shows how workers stole social security numbers from a database while a man was fired for trying to look up President Barack Obama’s student loan records.
Cyber security campaigners warned that the failure to protect sensitive information because of 'bureaucratic incompetence' is just the 'tip of the iceberg'.[. . .]
One woman created a bogus Department of Education account to access the National Student Loan Data System to aid her criminal plot.
While accessing the records, she would extract information from individual accounts.
She swapped around the last four digits of her SSN with those of another during the scheme, and set up the fake identity to apply for credit cards, personal loans and set up a Sprint cell phone account.
An internal investigation within the department found she went into the database 24 times between 2006 and 2009 to retrieve the information.
Just 24 hours after searching through the database on one occasion in 2009, the documents revealed she applied for a personal loan.[. . .]
After pleading guilty, she was sentenced to 18 months in jail with a 17-month suspended sentence. However, according to the documents, the employee only served a month in prison and was then given authorized work by a judge.
[. . .]
Another part of the document trove described the investigation into Joseph Butler, a veteran department employee from Clarkstown, Georgia, who accessed child pornography for years.
More than 70 disturbing images were founded embedded in several Microsoft Word documents that were then saved to his government computer.According to reports he was able to filter his computer activity and get around filtering software preventing government staff from visiting illicit websites.
His Internet browsing history also revealed he had searched for child nudity and pornography.
Butler used his computer to download images onto CD-ROMs, which federal agents found during a search of his home in July 2011. Agents also found graphic stories Butler had written about children.
He is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2951505/Identity-thieves-Department-Education-caught-stealing-students-personal-information-apply-credit-cards-staff-members-FIRED-looking-Barack-Obama-s-student-debts.html

EXCLUSIVE: Fraudsters in Department of Education are caught stealing students' personal information to apply for loans and cellphones - and one worker looked up Barack Obama's student loan records
One employee used students' personal information to apply for a loan
A number of other workers were also involved in the illicit scheme
Created 'bogus' social security details related to another person
Another government employee lost their job for trying to access Obama's student loan files in 2011
A third was probed last year for promoting his own business using government phones and computers at the taxpayers' expense
Cyber security campaigners said this is just the 'tip of the iceberg' and 'bureaucratic incompetence' could put personal information at risk
By WILLS ROBINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 11:18 EST, 2 March 2015 | UPDATED: 13:50 EST, 2 March 2015

Homeless New York Man Beats Hotels, Restaurants For Thousands of Dollars

Isa Bako

Photo: Instrgram
[From article]
A homeless man conned his way into weeklong stays at two Manhattan hotels — including the Algonquin — sleeping in luxury and feasting on cuisine from Tao restaurant, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Isa Bako, 33 — a broke celebrity-hanger-on and former model whose goal was to put on a fashion show featuring his hats on naked models — first pampered himself for eight days at the Courtyard Marriott on West 37th Street, sources said.
He racked up more than $2,000 in bills at the hotel — including for food deliveries from upscale Tao — using stolen credit card information, authorities say.
The drifter moved to The Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street, where he allegedly spent five days using credit card info swiped from another victim, a 49-year-old Dallas businessman.
[. . .]
Bako was hit with identity theft charges and remains at Rikers Island on $30,000 bail. His next Manhattan Criminal Court hearing is set for March 3.
He is accused of committing the fraud between Oct. 24, 2013, and Nov. 7, 2013, sources said.
His lawyer, Brian Kennedy, declined to comment.
The Wisconsin-born Bako claims a pal from Nigeria, where his parents are from, gave him the credit card information, sources said.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/03/homeless-man-accused-of-conning-his-way-into-luxury-hotels/

This bum’s rush was conning his way into luxury hotels, authorities say
By Jamie Schram
New York Post
February 3, 2015 | 4:02am

Columbus, OH Police Shoot Dead Gentleman With Knives At Airport

Members of the bomb squad check out a parked SUV at port Columbus Airport 
Photo: AP

[From article]
The man had multiple knives on him and suspicious items in his car that led to a bomb squad investigation, Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner said. The man was identified only as a Columbus-area resident in his early 40s pending notification of his relatives.
After the first shots were fired, the man got up and headed back toward the terminal, at which point a second airport officer shot him, Weiner said. It was unclear whether he was shot by both officers. He was shot multiple times, Weiner said.
Police are investigating the man’s background and why he was using a fake ID to buy a ticket. He tried at one point to use a woman’s ID, Weiner said.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/07/police-fatally-shoot-man-at-ohio-airport-amid-confrontation/

Police fatally shoot man at Ohio airport amid confrontation
By Associated Press
New York Post
January 7, 2015 | 8:23pm

Government Degrades Quality of Health Care

Not mentioned is the ease of hacking into hospital files. Facilitating making medical records available to criminals is one more obscene element of the new health care. Plus as stated the time taken by doctors doing something other than treating their patients. It is shocking that so many of the nations doctors remain silent and accept these abuses of their profession.

[From article]
This is another reason for doctors to shun Medicare. The electronic medical records requirements have been a disaster for many physicians in small and solo practices, particularly. Instead of saving time and money, they impose new burdens. One physician in solo practice I know has had to add a half-time staff member to cope with the extra work. And the need to stare at a computer and fill in boxes and blanks while talking to patients disrupts the close communication between doctor and patient necessary for sound diagnosis. Instead of looking intently at the patient, the physician must look at the computer while proceeding down a checklist.
[. . .]
This is an excellent way to degrade the quality of medical care Americans receive.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/doctors_to_get_medicare_pay_cut_if_they_dont_meaningfully_use_electronic_medical_records.html

December 19, 2014
Doctors to get Medicare pay cut if they don't 'meaningfully' use electronic medical records
By Thomas Lifson

U.S. Citizens Fear Hack Attacks Most

[From article]
Americans today are more worried about their credit card information being hacked from stores than about any other crimes they are asked about, and a relatively high percentage say they have been victims of this hacking.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/178856/hacking-tops-list-crimes-americans-worry.aspx

Hacking Tops List of Crimes Americans Worry About Most
by Rebecca Riffkin
October 27, 2014

ATM Thieves Caught, Expose International Chinese Ring

[From article]
Elvin Pineda, 25, and his pal Luis Fernandez were taking apart an ATM at a TD Bank on Bay and Shore parkways at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday when cops on patrol caught them in the act, said police.
The duo told investigators they had tampered with the machines before and regularly shipped the ATM parts to China to be duplicated and used for skimming devices, according to police.
Pineda told cops he had more skimming equipment in his Coney Island pad, so they went for a look and uncovered several hundred credit cards, laptops, special printers and laminators, police said.
Pineda was charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a forgery device, possession of a forged instrument, possession of a skimmer device, and criminal mischief, cops said.

http://nypost.com/2014/10/16/thieves-caught-taking-apart-atm-part-of-international-scam-ring-cops/

Thieves caught taking apart ATM in international scam ring: cops
By Natasha Velez
New York Post
October 16, 2014 | 8:27am

NY Thieves Get $400,000 Worth of Shoes and Handbags

[From article]
The ringleader, Tamara Williams, 36, is accused of stealing Social Security numbers and birthdates of more than 20 Saks credit card holders and disseminating that information to four store sales associates, who were also busted.
Some 200 pairs of sky-high stilettos, including $2,250 Giuseppe Zanotti boots, and 80 handbags like a black leather YSL beauty priced at an eye-popping $10,000, were on display Monday morning at a press conference to announce the indictments.

http://nypost.com/2014/10/06/scammers-swiped-400k-in-designer-shoes/

Scammers swiped $400K in designer shoes
By Kathleen Culliton and Lia Eustachewich
New York Post
October 6, 2014 | 12:48pm

Substantial Fraud In Theft of Medical Information

[From article]
Your medical information is worth 10 times more than your credit card number on the black market.
Last month, the FBI warned healthcare providers to guard against cyber attacks after one of the largest U.S. hospital operators, Community Health Systems Inc, said Chinese hackers had broken into its computer network and stolen the personal information of 4.5 million patients.
[. . .]
Fraudsters use this data to create fake IDs to buy medical equipment or drugs that can be resold, or they combine a patient number with a false provider number and file made-up claims with insurers, according to experts who have investigated cyber attacks on healthcare organizations.
[. . .]
one patient learned that his records at a major hospital chain were compromised after he started receiving bills related to a heart procedure he had not undergone. The man's credentials were also used to buy a mobility scooter and several pieces of medical equipment, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in total fraud.
[. . .]
Fraud involving the Medicare program for seniors and the disabled totaled more than $6 billion in the last two years,

http://news.yahoo.com/medical-record-worth-more-hackers-credit-card-182251915--finance.html

September 24, 2014
By Caroline Humer and Jim Finkle

Yahoo News

US Court of Appeals Reinstates Wisconsin Voter ID Law

[From article]
The 7th Circuit issued a ruling late Friday afternoon lifting Aldeman’s stay and allowing the law to go into effect before the November elections.
State attorneys asked a three-judge 7th Circuit panel during oral arguments on Friday to immediately reinstate the law.

http://fox6now.com/2014/09/12/voter-id-law-reinstated-in-wisconson/


Federal appeals court orders Wisconsin’s voter ID law to be reinstated
POSTED 4:34 PM, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014,

AP WIRE SERVICE, JUSTIN WILLIAMS AND ASHLEY SEARS

UPDATED AT 08:05AM, SEPTEMBER 13, 2014