Lauderhill man charged in ID theft case involving stolen driver license info Some might say you couldn’t mistake him for anyone else because of his unique facial tattoos — which include the Bentley luxury car logo splashed across his forehead and between his eyes. But federal prosecutors say Derek Denesevich liked to pretend to be…

Identity theft rises, consumers rage The big data breaches almost seem routine. The count is 368 breaches so far this year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a cybercrime research and education group. That’s up nearly 19 percent from the same period last year. The number of personal records exposed in 2014 thus far?…

Identity theft can happen to anyone, anywhere The nationwide identity theft epidemic hit home, recently. A couple of weeks ago, an automated service alerted me of some unusual activity on my wife’s debit card. Someone attempted an 80-cent charge from a store in Florida; a $1 charge at a Georgia Walmart; and a series of…

Two Brooklyn men face identity theft charges in Park Ridge PARK RIDGE — Two Brooklyn men are accused of identity theft after they allegedly tried to exchange several hundred dollars worth of gift cards for new ones in a borough supermarket Sunday, authorities said. Jeffrey D. Laroche, 30, and Stanley S. Diogene, 22, are charged…

Personal files from late Orlando attorney’s office thrown in dumpster ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orlando woman is angry after finding out her private information was tossed into a dumpster without being shredded — and hers wasn’t the only information that got treated that way. The files appear to belong to clients of Frank Bartolomeo at…

Spring Clean Your Small Business Document Destruction Policy Many small businesses are trusted with confidential information provided by customers. From credit card data to addresses, phone numbers and email contact information, customers provide a great deal of information that they expect will be kept secure. Unfortunately, even the biggest companies can have a data breach…

Convenience store operators ran $24M check-cashing scheme The owners of a convenience store near downtown Winter Garden are facing federal prison time after admitting they were part of a $24 million check-cashing scheme involving fraudulently obtained tax refunds. The case against Mohammad Sultan and Ashrafunnahar Mohsin, the husband-and-wife who operate DJ’s Discount Market on South…

Leader of Identity Theft Ring Gets 10 Years in Prison Jennifer Robinson, 36, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was recently sentenced to 121 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for her involvement in an extensive identity theft scheme. Robinson had previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to…

Tax Preparer Gets Five Years for Identity Theft Louis A. Francois, 44, of Margate, Fla., was recently sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, for his involvement in a stolen identity tax refund (SIRF) scheme. Francois, who had pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and…

Polk man sentenced to 7 years for stealing IDs, filing phony tax returns A 50-year-old Polk County man was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for his role in a roughly $400,000 tax-fraud scheme. Norman V. Charlton of Lakeland must forfeit $14,952 that was seized from his residence on March 21, 2012, U.S.…