IP: re: Serious new CALIFORNIA Drivers License ID RISK: [risks] Risks Digest 21.29

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> 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)



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