Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: re: Serious new CALIFORNIA Drivers License ID RISK: [risks] Risks Digest 21.29
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 21:19:30 -0500
X-Sender: tgoltz () mercury quietsoftware com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0.2 Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 20:48:30 -0500 To: farber () cis upenn edu From: Tom Goltz <tgoltz () QuietSoftware com> Subject: Re: IP: Serious new CALIFORNIA Drivers License ID RISK: [risks] Risks Digest 21.29 Cc: "Peter V. Cornell" <pcornell () nanospace com>Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 16:03:12 -0800 From: "Peter V. Cornell" <pcornell () nanospace com> Subject: Serious new CA Drivers License ID RISK This is really happening! Almost exactly one decade ago Chris Hibbert posted a RISKS article describing the (then) new California Drivers License (CDL). He gave a warning to us all. That little piece is still on server: http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/11.03.html#subj10 [and has been updated by Chris since. PGN] That warning, given in 1991, has blossomed into a nightmare. Recently, The California driver license and ID card have been declared as PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS in this state by the California legislature. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/faq/dlfaq.htm#2504 http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/HumanResources/irss/dmv.html Guess why? A great convenience for bankers, but enabling serious new ID fraud RISKS based on easily obtained fake driver licenses and data.Very easily. Ironically, the fake doesn't even have to be very good. A couple of facts that you may find interesting: I am white. I have held a California driver's license in the past, but that license has been inactive for over two years since I established residency in another state. In October of last year, a black male obtained a fake California driver's license with my name on it and his picture. The driver's license ID # he used belongs to a white female. The address is a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency in Costa Mesa CA, which the state doesn't normally allow. The fake also contained two spelling errors. This person used this ID and my social security number to open a dozen different credit accounts in my name at various locations around the Los Angeles area. He was using a cell phone with a phone number based in the 603 area code as his residence phone. If anyone had bothered to look, just about everything about this guy screamed fraud, yet he managed to steal $15,000 worth of merchandise (mostly jewelry). Out of all these people who were supposed to be checking this information, only TWO found problems. One was a used car dealer who became suspicious when the check this guy gave for the down payment proved to be bogus. They refused to give the guy the car, but didn't bother to pursue the matter with the police. The other was store security at a Costco in Las Vegas, who tracked me down in New Hampshire and informed me that I had a problem. They detained the man, and turned him over to the police. Sadly, the most he's going do is a couple of years probation - he didn't actually steal anything in Las Vegas, and the identity theft, although a crime in NV is not sufficient to assure jail time by itself. I discussed the matter of extraditing the varmint to California with Las Vegas police, but they told me that it was unlikely that California would bother for something that would only net the offender probation there as well. According to the LV police detective, in California, you have to be charged with stealing over $50,000 before you'll do any jail time. It's no wonder this crime is exploding...it's low risk, extremely profitable, and trivial to implement. Oh yes...how did he get my name and social security number? He told the Las Vegas police that he purchased the information on the street for $500. Tom Goltz Software Engineering Services (603) 594-9922 (603) 594-9939 (fax)
For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
Current thread:
- IP: re: Serious new CALIFORNIA Drivers License ID RISK: [risks] Risks Digest 21.29 David Farber (Mar 25)