"EQUIFAX EMPLOYEE NABBED IN THEFT-OF-IDENTITY SCAM An Equifax employee in Baltimore has been arrested on credit and cellular fraud charges. Authorities have accused him of using his access to Equifaxâ??s credit bureau database to lead a small ring of identity thieves who made fraudulent purchases of at least $100,000 worth of electronics equipment. According to the May 26 Washington Post, Bobby Ray Anderson, a 28-year-old collections clerk, allegedly squirreled away the names, Social Security numbers, work histories and other personal facts on three dozen people in the Washington-Baltimore area. Authorities have arrested a possible accomplice, David Longe, former manager of a Radio Shack store where many of the fraudulent purchases were made. Anderson recently pleaded guilty to misusing a credit card in an unrelated case and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Authorities said the investigation is continuing; Andersonâ??s attorney refused to comment, the Post reported. Anderson previously was arrested for appropriating cell phone accounts and passwords. He got his job at Equifax through a temporary employment agency which, according to Equifax spokesman David Mooney, failed to perform the required background checks. The investigation of Anderson began when Thomas Meeks of Rockville, Md., received a letter about a line of credit from a Radio Shack store he never visited. Meeks followed up and learned that a Pittsburgh lending company had approved a $2,000 loan in Meeksâ?? name. Similarly, Kathy Gonzalez, of Prince Frederick, Md., learned that someone posing as her bought a Radio Shack computer. Police said that Longe, the Radio Shack manager implicated in the scheme, pressured the credit department for quick credit approvals. Gonzalez drove 90 minutes to an Equifax office in Baltimore, and cleared her record when she showed officials there that the identification used with the phony application was an amateurish fake. The application also inflated her income and job title. â??To date, the Federal Task Force has approximately 20 to 25 fraud credit applications which were completed at the Radio Shack which can be tied in directly with accounts that Mr. Anderson worked while at Equifax,â? according to police records." What is really safe at these places? I don't trust anyone at these CRA's, just because it is SO easy to do something like this. Food for Thought...
