Albert Gonzalez was sentenced for orchestrating a 3.3 million identity theft breach at Educational Credit Management that exposed federal student loan borrowers. The hacker stole personal data and credit card information. Experts recommend credit monitoring and checking statements to protect yourself.
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This morning, stolen identities. More than 3 million people have their personal information stolen in yet another brazen identity theft plot. From high-tech hacking to smash-and-grab robbery, thieves are finding new ways to nab your financial reputation.
But now we turn to the latest troubling case of identity theft. Sensitive personal data has been swiped from a company that guarantees federal student loans, impacting millions of students from coast to coast. Andrea Canning is here with more. This is a troubling issue, Andrea.
It is, and it affects so many people. Good morning, Diana. Well, this is believed to be one of the biggest cases of student identity theft in this country, affecting 5% of all students with federal loans in the U.S.
The information stolen from Educational Credit Management is a treasure for identity thieves. 3.3 million names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.
Once the bad guy is in, once they get the Social, they have the key to the kingdom. They can begin to open up new accounts on by that person's name.
The data was stored on a portable media device, and it's just the latest in a recent string of brazen identity thefts. On Thursday, police in Illinois announced they had broken up a criminal ring involving the night cleaning crew at a Chicago-area hospital that would steal patient information.
They'd use the other person's credit cards that they had added their name to or had added— opened up a new account. They'd purchase stuff, then they'd go back and they'd sell it to these individuals for half price.
Once they had the information, it was as easy as making a phone call.
How can I help you, ma'am? Yes, I wanted to add my daughter on my account as authorized user. Okay, you would need her driver's license number, her Social Security number, and her date of birth. Okay, she's right here with me.
Police say using stolen credit cards, the suspects bought $300,000 worth of goods including clothing and jewelry and then posed for Facebook pictures showing off their loot. 7 are in custody. 3, including the alleged ringleader, are still at large. And this week, Albert Gonzalez, who has been called the biggest cyber hacker in U.S. history, was sentenced to 20 years in jail after he stole tens of millions of credit card numbers. He did it by hacking into major retailers' billing systems over their Wi-Fi networks. He stole more than $200 million—so much he had to bury $1 million in his parents' backyard.
If you're one of those 3.3 million student loan borrowers, you'll get a letter in the mail this week alerting you of the theft. The company put more information on their website as well and says they'll offer free credit monitoring services for all these students.
So what can we actually do to protect ourselves and our identities from being stolen?
There are actually things you can do. Changing things up is really important. You can actually get a new debit card PIN number every 6 months to throw them off the scent. You could get a new number for your card whenever it expires or if you're feeling uncomfortable. And I would say one thing that really works for me that best is checking your statements every couple days, every few days. You know, I sign up for all my statements online. It takes 2 minutes, and I've actually caught some fraudulent charges, and they can be as small as $20. One thing I just learned is that these sneaky crooks, they might be testing you to see if you're actually checking these smaller charges. If you're not, then it's like the door's open to go forward.
Yeah, so I caught one recently too. It was only $10 a month, but it adds up.
Right, you're like, what is this?
And it's so easy to catch if you're looking. I just happened to pay attention.
