14 DAY TRIAL // Military personnel at Fort Riley base in Kansas may have been the victims of identity theft from a fellow private, who stands accused of stealing personal information for financial fraud purposes.
Todd Newbrough, while stationed at the military camp, has allegedly accessed personally identifying data of soldiers from the leave and earnings statements and other military records.
Operation believed to have started in 2011
He was charged on Wednesday with with four counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud.
It is alleged that starting 2011 through 2015, Newbrough used the data to obtain credit lines from financial institutions in the name of the victims, according to the Topeka Capital Journal.
The Army Criminal Investigation Division carried out the investigation in collaboration with other law enforcement partners.
The maximum penalty Newbrough can receive if found guilty is 30 years of jail time in a federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million / €890,000 for each wire and bank fraud count. Apart from this, he faces a mandatory consecutive two years for the aggravated identity theft counts.
Employees are also tempted by easy money
No details have been provided about the number of possible victims or the amount of money he may have stolen through the scheme.
Identity theft is a serious problem these days, as personal information present on computer networks of different services and organizations does not benefit from proper protection.
However, even if the data is stored in a secure manner, there is the possibility that employees are tempted to steal sensitive information and use it for personal financial gain.
In April, an employee of JPMorgan Chase was arrested by the FBI for selling customer data obtained from the bank’s system. The defendant, Peter Persaud, met with an FBI confidential informant and an undercover agent and provided them with personal details of multiple victims, in exchange for monetary compensation.