Information about protecting yourself from identity theft.

ChoicePoint Case

Los Angeles case involved 16 victims of identity theft...

The ease of access to personal information has been clearly illustrated in Los Angeles, where one of the largest identity theft cases ever has recently been filed. This case involves 16 victims, five of which are banks or credit card companies. The total loss in this case equals more than $4 million.

In this case, 42-year-old Olatunji Oluwatosin, who has already been sentenced to 16 months in state prison for identity theft, faces up to 22 more years.

According to the indictment, Oluwatosin and an unknown conspirator opened a fraudulent business application under the name “Pacific Collections” with ChoicePoint in January of 2002. They then began accessing account information using their Pacific Collections accounts.

Oluwatosin and his accomplice, or accomplices, then set up mail drops in various California cities, creating fictitious businesses. They were then able to access ChoicePoint databases, which are filled with consumer data collected by the company.

According to the indictment, Oluwatosin collected the personal information of over 1,500 people. He then used that information to access credit cards and to set up new accounts. The breach in security crested by Oluwastosin in the process made an estimated 148,000 people more vulnerable to identity theft at the time.

ChoicePoint itself lost an estimated $2 million in the scam. To date, Citibank, Bank of America, Household Bank, and Bank One have lost an estimated combined total of $2 million, as well.

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