The Vineland Developmental Center, a New Jersey Company, has had identity theft issues since 2008. The identity theft affected approximately 30 employees at the company. Recently, the local police had a meeting with the 30 employees and claimed those accused of the identity theft were in custody.
The police were unable to identity how the identity theft originated. It was speculated the identity theft originated from a document that was meant to be shredded and placed in the general trash or information that was handed over from one person to another.
The police reported that each of the employee’s whose identity was falsely used all had the commonality of a Home Depot account. The alleged offenders who misused the employee’s identities perpetuated the scam by making charges for thousands of dollars at Home Depot.
The alleged offenders would tell the cashier they did not physically have the Home Depot card, the cashier would only request the social security number associated with the account and proceed with the transaction. After the transaction was completed, the alleged offenders requested a gift receipt. The merchandise was later returned to Home Depot with the gift receipt, in order to obtain a store credit or gift card. The gift card was later sold illegally.
Police report that 12 arrests have been made in connection with this incident. Police confiscated social security numbers and fake identification from the alleged offenders. The official criminal charges filed against the alleged have not been identified. The alleged offenders face up to a two year sentence for each charge of identity theft.
Source: NJ.com, “Vineland Developmental Center employees victims of identity theft; criminals caught,” Jim Cook, jr., Feb. 29, 2012