Identity Theft Ring Targets Forbes 400 Richest Americans

Identity (ID) theft is a serious crime affecting people from all walks of life.  Now it seems this type of crime has also affected some American millionaires and billionaires.

InformationWeek.com is reporting (http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201800899) the announcement from Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau (http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/index.htm) regarding the arrest of members of an id theft gang who targeted billionaires from Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans.

I believe the law enforcement community acted appropriately in setting the year-long undercover operation that has led to these arrests.  Hopefully these criminals will be convicted of their crimes.  However, this case makes me think there is another incident worthy of criminal prosecutions.

In January, TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) disclosed the largest credit card information data breach affecting thousands of American consumers. The reality is that although this security incident affected thousands of consumers, it hast not warranted or yielded ANY criminal prosecutions to date. Last week TJX Companies, Inc. announced that costs from this massive data breach may surpass $118 million dollars. 

Perhaps soon we will read the news wires and find the culprits behind the TJX data breach are also being prosecuted for ID theft criminal actions affecting thousands of consumers--not just the uber-wealthy.

Jaime