Stolen IDs Peddled In Murky Chatrooms

The Early Show: Thieves Put Millions Up For Bid Online Each Year

(CBS)  Someone's identity is stolen every three seconds in the United States.

Crooks are making billions buying and selling identities, and most consumers have no idea their information is out there, up for sale.

In the underground world of identity theft, credit card, bank account and Social Security numbers are being bought and sold by thieves around the globe, reported Early Show Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen Monday in the first of a three-part series, "Early on the Case: Stolen Identities."

"(Through) the selling of (personal) information en masse, they can make millions of dollars in one transaction, in terms of who they go after. Really everybody is exposed," Tom Rusin, CEO of Affinion Group, told Koeppen. Affinion helps safeguard consumers' identities.

More than 8 million Americans fall victim to identity theft each year, and many don't know their information is being offered on the Internet in chatrooms run by criminals.

A credit card number alone could be worth about $1.50, Rusin says. A name, address and social security number? Probably between $10 and $12.

Affinion's Dan Clement took Koeppen inside several chatrooms.

"I can't believe this is going on," Koeppen remarked. "The average consumer has no idea that people are sitting at computers and doing this sort of thing."

"No," Clement replied. "It's like the commodities market. It's just a different commodity. It's not real commodities, it's people's personal information."

In one, he pointed to identity thieves, security companies like Affinion, and law enforcement. "Everybody in there is kind of a fly on the wall, watching to see what these guys (the thieves) are doing," Clement explained.

Pointing to one entry, Clement said full login info for a Wachovia account with $11,000 in it was up for grabs. The account, he said, was sure to be liquidated, without its owner having a clue it was happening.

Koeppen says they "found entire personal profiles for sale, including names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, Social Security numbers, even mothers' maiden names.

One such profile belonged to Kellie Griffin, a working mom from Shreveport, La., who was shocked when Koeppen clued her in.

"My jaw dropped when you told me why you were calling," Griffin told Koeppen.

Griffin says she spends hours a day working on her computer, but she has no idea how someone got so much of her information.

"It's amazing!" Griffin exclaimed.

Griffin says she thought she'd been doing everything right to protect herself, and now she wonders, "What else do they have? Do they know what I look like? Do they have a copy of my driver's license? I don't know what else they have, and I don't know what they've done with it."

In one of the chatrooms, Clement and Koeppen pretended to be a thief pitching two cards.

Within five minutes, the cards began getting some bites from would-be purchasers "checking it out. They're trying to see what the balance is on the card," Clement said.

And within 10 minutes, the balance on both cards was nearly depleted.

"It's like throwing tuna to the sharks," Clement said.

Koeppen and Clement even struck up a conversation with a scammer who had credit cards for sale.

"Shadow Girl" was trying to sell them credit cards for $6. But Clement "negotiated" and go her to offer four cards for $16.

To protect yourself, Koeppen says you could:

Monitor your credit reports.

Shred documents.

Change your password and user name frequently.

Hire a service that monitors your information.

These chatrooms are usually overseas, Koeppen says, "so it's hard for law enforcement in the U.S. to crack down and shut them down. And these are sophisticated crooks. You shut one down, the pop up somewhere else."

Copyright MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Add a Comment See all 25 Comments

by opd-retired November 17, 2008 11:41 AM PST

While listening to your report of ID theft, you missed a current problem that has great concern and ever increasing. The US Mail service is misdirecting delivered mail. Over the years it has become an ever increasing problem. The other day I received someone%u2019s payment of a utility bill, still stamped, check enclosed and ready to deliver for payment. We receive mail in two locations and I find that that these miss deliveries of financial statements, personal letters are not unique to any one area. Complaints fall on deaf ears.

I correspond frequently with IRS, California Franchise Tax, and many other taxing agencies representing clients. I am very concerned that when a response is sent to me or a client sends information and it is missing because of USPS delivering to the wrong address.

One can take measures to protect oneself, but what happens when your exposure is out of your control. It has caused me to stop using my business name on return mail and send everything registered mail. My clients now send me by fax or registered mail. It has become an expensive problem.

Jim Horne EA
Truckee, CA

Reply to this comment

by ilovethe90s November 17, 2008 11:52 AM PST

That poor woman! Hopefully the governments of the world will create a system to allow for the prosecution of these crimes.

Reply to this comment

by jsimms1234 November 17, 2008 11:58 AM PST

Wow, that is so scary.

Reply to this comment

by drob3253 November 17, 2008 12:06 PM PST

It seems that the news is filled with identity theft stories. I have been a victim myself twice in the past year. The credit card companies are very responsive and helpful but the resulting sense of insecurity is long lasting.

I constantly recommend to my friends and family that they take advantage of one the many companies that provide proactive monitoring of credit data and scan the internet for personal information that might lead to identity theft.

I have seen several presentations on various news outlets by Dan Clements and was so impressed by his knowledge that I signed up for the Id Secure service his company provides.

I know nothing is full proof but I like the idea of someone having my back in this seedy world of cyber crime.

Reply to this comment

by sm528 November 17, 2008 12:10 PM PST

Wow, it is so creepy that people in a chat room can just buy your information! Hopefully law enforcement will realize that something needs to be done about this...

Reply to this comment

by clathrate November 17, 2008 1:44 PM PST

I have no idea why this sort of thing is tolerated. All we need is some meaningful legislation that would eliminate SS numbers as identifiers. All credit applications and major account transfers should be based on rolling pseudorandom codes that consumers obtain from verified secure sources.

It is entirely the fault of dumb legistlators and fools within the banking industry that this happens.

Reply to this comment

by gop_will_win November 17, 2008 1:44 PM PST

This is all the fault of liberals who go for easy money instead of honestly working for it.

Reply to this comment

by mary19482 November 17, 2008 2:09 PM PST

i been going after nigerian scammers.on my space they steal model photos.i warn people of them.my space has been told time time again.and they delete not the scammers.but us ..i wish c.b s would check the law ans see if they are not a accessory to a crime also..

Reply to this comment

by ml1111 November 17, 2008 2:21 PM PST

I couldn''t imagine what Kellie was thinking when an Early Show reporter called her out of the blue. She and her bank had no idea, the only way she found out was that a reporter was randomly doing a story and found her. It''s too bad others can''t be that lucky. This service sounds well worth signing up for.

Reply to this comment

by playnice1 November 17, 2008 2:25 PM PST

Wow, scary story. I had no idea that personal information was being sold so inexpensively online.

Reply to this comment

by anonymousxy November 17, 2008 2:28 PM PST

This is really eye opening. Shouldn''t some of our our "defense spending" be allocated to cracking down on these crimes? How can we send a bot to Mars and discover signs of water but we can''t stay on top of criminals on our own planet?

Reply to this comment

by txmatthews1 November 17, 2008 3:35 PM PST

You need to do a report on a Company called "Sterlington Associates". If you Google their number 630-282-5750 you will get a LONG list of Complantes on this so called COMPANY. You can contact me and I will tell you my story. They need to be SHUT DOWN!

Reply to this comment

by ddaryl1 November 17, 2008 3:35 PM PST

identity theft, illegal drug tade etc.. are all allowed ot happen. Identity theft has created another infrastrucutre. Now they want you to pay for a credit monitoring service. It''s all big business, and it is allowed to happen to sustain the business.

Similiar to the illegal drug trade, do you know how much is made because durgs are illegal. Lawyers make money, courts make money, and drug testing is an industry unto itself.

They like these illegal activities because they can use it to generate revenue.

Reply to this comment

by txmatthews1 November 17, 2008 3:44 PM PST

I just finished looking at all of the comments before mine posted. Did you realize, I was told this by my STATE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY''S OFFICE that your last four of your SS#, Address, and Phone Numbers are part of the "PUBLIC RECORD"! We need to get ride of that first.

Reply to this comment

by cyberdjs4 November 17, 2008 5:35 PM PST

@txmatthews1:

That is why your last 4 SS# digits are used as verification for so many things.

Reply to this comment

by dkhorse1 November 17, 2008 6:33 PM PST

Hopefully there will be no rise in Government intervention! Thieves desire the same rights to privacy as every person on Earth. How dare the governments of the world infringe on their right to make a buck.
The right to ultimate privacy is the right of everyone, not just law abiding citizens.

Many crooks get up and work long days to steal your information just like the rest of us work long days at regular jobs. Don%u2019t take that away.
Keep imperialistic, eavesdropping governments (all governments) out.

Reply to this comment

by downsteamjim November 17, 2008 9:22 PM PST

Deckard: I hope you didn''t marry a muslim in France.

Reply to this comment

by legacyabq November 17, 2008 11:37 PM PST

If someone had a "wachovia account with 11,000 $ in it" for sale, why would they sell it for 10$ instead of taking it themselves?
This sounds like propaganda exaggeration, to make a compelling story

Reply to this comment

by nothappyatall November 18, 2008 1:50 AM PST

If someone had a "wachovia account with 11,000 $ in it" for sale, why would they sell it for 10$ instead of taking it themselves?
This sounds like propaganda exaggeration, to make a compelling story

Posted by legacyABQ "

It didnt say that went for $10, there could be lots of reasons why someone might sell that for say $5,000 instead of taking the whole $11,000- for one- the seller may be in the USA and his IP and th transaction too easy to catch if he did it himself, but selling the info to some person in Russia outside US laws etc would be an easy $5,000 and there''s always bunches more out there to grab, it''s not like the one acct is the only one.

Reply to this comment

by nothappyatall November 18, 2008 1:55 AM PST

identity theft, illegal drug tade etc.. are all allowed ot happen. Identity theft has created another infrastrucutre. Now they want you to pay for a credit monitoring service. It''''s all big business, and it is allowed to happen to sustain the business.
ddaryl1"

Yep, no doubt, like the phone co selling your phone #''s and then charging you for a new unpublished number, anon block and caller ID to stop the sales calls.
I know for a fact from a friend that the anti virus software co''s ARE putting computer virus'' and worms out the back door- it keeps themselves in business. Isnt it an amazing coincidence they seem to have the fixes so fast- for a price!
If they can write an anti virus program they can also write a virus and I never believed it was just script kiddies doing it ALL just for "kicks", no, there''s MONEY behind it all and ones who make the money are the ones to suspect and examine- always.

Reply to this comment

by alphaa10000 November 18, 2008 1:56 AM PST

The crime of identity theft is not actually a crime in this country. Everyone from banks to schools wants to use, post and publicize what should be private information. At one point, universities used the SSN as a means of "anonymously" posting grades.

Call a gas credit card representative, call the power company, call your own doctor, and you will be asked for your SSN and/or other information required to be on file by the company as a pre-condition of doing business.

We consumers have no protection for our privacy, and attempts to legislate privacy protection have been blocked "for security reasons" by commercial and other parties to make their own transactions more secure and convenient-- not to protect us.

Reply to this comment

by babooph November 18, 2008 5:52 AM PST

I will only get on non "murky" chatrooms fronm now on.

Reply to this comment

by raskal_2 November 18, 2008 7:22 AM PST

look at it this way, if I loose all of my money in the stock market,in government bailouts, and I can''t get any credit My Identity won''t be worth anything and no one will want to steal it and it will return to its original use as something to be called out in anger

Reply to this comment

by scammerclub November 18, 2008 9:32 AM PST

I wish the interviewer had asked the Lady if she
had ever chatted on line. I am willing to bet she
has a myspace account and has talked to a few
scammers and they collected a little information
at a time until they had what they wanted.

Reply to this comment

by scammerclub November 18, 2008 9:36 AM PST

I wish the interviewer of the Woman that had her
identity published on line had asked her if she
ever chatted on line with anyone. I am willing to
surmize the lady has chatted and may have encountered
scammers that got her information a little at a
time and the answer to her question if they know
what she looks like.
That answer would most likely be a "high" Yes.

Reply to this comment

See all 25 Comments

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[opd-retired]

While listening to your report of ID theft, you missed a current problem that has great concern and ever increasing. The US Mail service is misdirecting delivered mail. Over the years it has become an ever increasing problem. The other day I received someone%u2019s payment of a utility bill, still stamped, check enclosed and ready to deliver for payment. We receive mail in two locations and I find that that these miss deliveries of financial statements, personal letters are not unique to any one area. Complaints fall on deaf ears.

I correspond frequently with IRS, California Franchise Tax, and many other taxing agencies representing clients. I am very concerned that when a response is sent to me or a client sends information and it is missing because of USPS delivering to the wrong address.

One can take measures to protect oneself, but what happens when your exposure is out of your control. It has caused me to stop using my business name on return mail and send everything registered mail. My clients now send me by fax or registered mail. It has become an expensive problem.

Jim Horne EA
Truckee, CA

[ilovethe90s]

That poor woman! Hopefully the governments of the world will create a system to allow for the prosecution of these crimes.

[jsimms1234]

Wow, that is so scary.

[drob3253]

It seems that the news is filled with identity theft stories. I have been a victim myself twice in the past year. The credit card companies are very responsive and helpful but the resulting sense of insecurity is long lasting.

I constantly recommend to my friends and family that they take advantage of one the many companies that provide proactive monitoring of credit data and scan the internet for personal information that might lead to identity theft.

I have seen several presentations on various news outlets by Dan Clements and was so impressed by his knowledge that I signed up for the Id Secure service his company provides.

I know nothing is full proof but I like the idea of someone having my back in this seedy world of cyber crime.

[sm528]

Wow, it is so creepy that people in a chat room can just buy your information! Hopefully law enforcement will realize that something needs to be done about this...

[clathrate]

I have no idea why this sort of thing is tolerated. All we need is some meaningful legislation that would eliminate SS numbers as identifiers. All credit applications and major account transfers should be based on rolling pseudorandom codes that consumers obtain from verified secure sources.

It is entirely the fault of dumb legistlators and fools within the banking industry that this happens.

[gop_will_win]

This is all the fault of liberals who go for easy money instead of honestly working for it.

[mary19482]

i been going after nigerian scammers.on my space they steal model photos.i warn people of them.my space has been told time time again.and they delete not the scammers.but us ..i wish c.b s would check the law ans see if they are not a accessory to a crime also..

[ml1111]

I couldn''t imagine what Kellie was thinking when an Early Show reporter called her out of the blue. She and her bank had no idea, the only way she found out was that a reporter was randomly doing a story and found her. It''s too bad others can''t be that lucky. This service sounds well worth signing up for.

[playnice1]

Wow, scary story. I had no idea that personal information was being sold so inexpensively online.

[anonymousxy]

This is really eye opening. Shouldn''t some of our our "defense spending" be allocated to cracking down on these crimes? How can we send a bot to Mars and discover signs of water but we can''t stay on top of criminals on our own planet?

[txmatthews1]

You need to do a report on a Company called "Sterlington Associates". If you Google their number 630-282-5750 you will get a LONG list of Complantes on this so called COMPANY. You can contact me and I will tell you my story. They need to be SHUT DOWN!

[ddaryl1]

identity theft, illegal drug tade etc.. are all allowed ot happen. Identity theft has created another infrastrucutre. Now they want you to pay for a credit monitoring service. It''s all big business, and it is allowed to happen to sustain the business.

Similiar to the illegal drug trade, do you know how much is made because durgs are illegal. Lawyers make money, courts make money, and drug testing is an industry unto itself.

They like these illegal activities because they can use it to generate revenue.

[txmatthews1]

I just finished looking at all of the comments before mine posted. Did you realize, I was told this by my STATE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY''S OFFICE that your last four of your SS#, Address, and Phone Numbers are part of the "PUBLIC RECORD"! We need to get ride of that first.

[cyberdjs4]

@txmatthews1:

That is why your last 4 SS# digits are used as verification for so many things.

[dkhorse1]

Hopefully there will be no rise in Government intervention! Thieves desire the same rights to privacy as every person on Earth. How dare the governments of the world infringe on their right to make a buck.
The right to ultimate privacy is the right of everyone, not just law abiding citizens.

Many crooks get up and work long days to steal your information just like the rest of us work long days at regular jobs. Don%u2019t take that away.
Keep imperialistic, eavesdropping governments (all governments) out.

[downsteamjim]

Deckard: I hope you didn''t marry a muslim in France.

[legacyabq]

If someone had a "wachovia account with 11,000 $ in it" for sale, why would they sell it for 10$ instead of taking it themselves?
This sounds like propaganda exaggeration, to make a compelling story

[nothappyatall]

If someone had a "wachovia account with 11,000 $ in it" for sale, why would they sell it for 10$ instead of taking it themselves?
This sounds like propaganda exaggeration, to make a compelling story

Posted by legacyABQ "

It didnt say that went for $10, there could be lots of reasons why someone might sell that for say $5,000 instead of taking the whole $11,000- for one- the seller may be in the USA and his IP and th transaction too easy to catch if he did it himself, but selling the info to some person in Russia outside US laws etc would be an easy $5,000 and there''s always bunches more out there to grab, it''s not like the one acct is the only one.

[nothappyatall]

identity theft, illegal drug tade etc.. are all allowed ot happen. Identity theft has created another infrastrucutre. Now they want you to pay for a credit monitoring service. It''''s all big business, and it is allowed to happen to sustain the business.
ddaryl1"

Yep, no doubt, like the phone co selling your phone #''s and then charging you for a new unpublished number, anon block and caller ID to stop the sales calls.
I know for a fact from a friend that the anti virus software co''s ARE putting computer virus'' and worms out the back door- it keeps themselves in business. Isnt it an amazing coincidence they seem to have the fixes so fast- for a price!
If they can write an anti virus program they can also write a virus and I never believed it was just script kiddies doing it ALL just for "kicks", no, there''s MONEY behind it all and ones who make the money are the ones to suspect and examine- always.

[alphaa10000]

The crime of identity theft is not actually a crime in this country. Everyone from banks to schools wants to use, post and publicize what should be private information. At one point, universities used the SSN as a means of "anonymously" posting grades.

Call a gas credit card representative, call the power company, call your own doctor, and you will be asked for your SSN and/or other information required to be on file by the company as a pre-condition of doing business.

We consumers have no protection for our privacy, and attempts to legislate privacy protection have been blocked "for security reasons" by commercial and other parties to make their own transactions more secure and convenient-- not to protect us.

[babooph]

I will only get on non "murky" chatrooms fronm now on.

[raskal_2]

look at it this way, if I loose all of my money in the stock market,in government bailouts, and I can''t get any credit My Identity won''t be worth anything and no one will want to steal it and it will return to its original use as something to be called out in anger

[scammerclub]

I wish the interviewer had asked the Lady if she
had ever chatted on line. I am willing to bet she
has a myspace account and has talked to a few
scammers and they collected a little information
at a time until they had what they wanted.

[scammerclub]

I wish the interviewer of the Woman that had her
identity published on line had asked her if she
ever chatted on line with anyone. I am willing to
surmize the lady has chatted and may have encountered
scammers that got her information a little at a
time and the answer to her question if they know
what she looks like.
That answer would most likely be a "high" Yes.