Apparently, meth addicts are discovering the lucrative benefits of identity theft. At least, that's the case according to USA TODAY. For about a decade now, meth addicts have been stealing info from garbage cans and mailboxes to get some quick cash for a quick fix. Now they're getting a little more advanced.
Here are some examples the article gives:
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* In Sacramento, Sheriff's Det. Eric Pahlberg recently took a reporter on a driving tour of "meth row," a string of squalid motels in California's capital. "We've found people on their computers making fake driver's licenses, checks, ordering products," says Pahlberg.
* From 1998 until he went to jail in 2003, Michael Greer,34, was a key figure in a group of 50 mostly gay men who made midnight raids of mailboxes in tony Seattle suburbs and carried out elaborate ID-theft scams.
"The drug is this evil root inside your body that dictates everything you do," says Greer, a law-office receptionist who helped start the Seattle chapter of Crystal Meth Anonymous,a recovery group. "And it'll dictate whatever it takes to keep getting high."
* A gang of meth-abusing women donning disguises have stolen wallets and records from hospitals, offices and child care facilities along the West Coast this year, running up $100,000 in charges online. Most of the 12 suspected gang members have been caught; the others are selling and trading credit card information on the Internet, says Commander Dave Kirby of the Washington County (Ore.) Sheriff's Office.
* Last month, a federal judge in Montana sentenced Troy McCready, 26, to two years and four months for counterfeiting, possession of document-making materials and attempted bank fraud.
McCready, a meth user, was arrested in a Kalispell, Mont., motel in February, where police found computer hardware, software and data files to produce fake IDs. A counterfeit check, driver's license and $50 bills were also discovered.
A computer-shop owner, McCready was the technical brains in an identity-theft ring involving dozens of meth users in the Phoenix area.
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As we've seen in the past, the low barrier to entry and the high payoff make identity theft attractive to criminals of all levels of sophistication. I think we'll only see identity theft increase as more and more discover this. |