"Using apartments in the San Fernando Valley and Glendale area, a shadowy group of identity thieves has been quietly exploiting a new kind of victim - foreign scholars who left the U.S. years ago but whose Social Security numbers still linger in American databases, according to a cybercrime expert. Criminals are resurrecting these dormant identities and submitting hundreds of applications for bank accounts and credit cards, says David Maimon, head of fraud insights at SentiLink and a criminology professor at Georgia State University."
"Sgt. Frank Diana, with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, said organized crime rings in the county are highly skilled at stealing identities, concealing their IP addresses and laundering their loot to make it hard to detect. Local identity crime rings "are doing it to make millions of dollars, live in nice houses, all at the expense of taxpayers," Diana said. "It's not their money, but they're living like kings.""
A shadowy group of identity thieves operating from apartments in the San Fernando Valley and Glendale exploits Social Security numbers of former foreign scholars who left the U.S. years earlier. Criminals resurrect dormant identities and submit hundreds of bank account and credit card applications to major issuers, then max out lines of credit. SentiLink analysts traced hundreds of applications to similar California street addresses and IP addresses in September. The fraud targets include former international students and scholars dating from 1977 through 2024. Victims often live halfway across the world and remain unaware as their Social Security numbers persist in U.S. databases. Organized rings conceal IP addresses, launder proceeds, and convert stolen credit into cash, producing substantial illicit profits while complicating detection and recovery efforts.
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