Colombian Resident Found Guilty of Identity Theft

A Colombian resident, on January 9 2008, pleaded guilty after being legally accused of involvement in an identity fraud scheme. He is believed to have installed keylogging program on computers of hotel business so that he could steal account data, passwords and similar personal information, announced the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The fraudulent scheme had victimized over 600 users globally, including employees of the U.S. Department of Defense, according to the DOJ. 40-year-old Mario Simbaqueba Bonilla spent the fraudulently acquired money from the scam on costly electronic equipment like a home theater system. He also spent the funds on luxury journey to the US, Jamaica, France, Hong Kong and other places, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida and a news release by DOJ.

These kinds of cyber crime victimize US citizens and inflict the economy of the country, said Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General of the criminal division. PRNewswire reported this on January 10, 2008. Ms. Fisher said that the DOJ is committed to ensuring that identity thieves do not hide behind the anonymity of the Internet in order to conduct criminal activities.

According to revelations in the legal accusation, Mario Simbaqueba Bonilla, together with a co-conspirator, carried out a series of complex intrusions on computers to initiate identity thefts and frauds with their victim's credit cards in order to rob them of their bank accounts and payrolls.

This was not the only case of its kind, lamented U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta for the SDFL. There have been many such frauds with the outstanding but vulnerable tool - the Internet. Criminals like Simbaqueba Bonilla exploit it to snatch people's personal and banking data and eventually their money. Acosta thus advises travelling people to think a second time before keying financial or personal details onto a public PC. PRNewswire reported this.

Federal agency investigators arrested Bonilla in August 2007 when he landed in Miami International Airport flying with a ticket he had bought with the stolen money. He was carrying a laptop that stored the names of over 600 people along with their private financial information.

Related article: Columbia Bank Notifies Clients Of Security Breach

» SPAMfighter News - 1/21/2008