Kingpin Behind Massive Identity-Theft Service Says He's Sorry
Krebs on Security tells the tale of Hieu Minh Ngo, who earned $3 million by selling the identity records he'd stolen from consumer data brokers (which included social security numbers and physical addresses). "He was selling the personal information on more than 200 million Americans," one secret service agent tells the site, "and allowing anyone to buy it for pennies apiece." Handling over 160,000 queries each month, Ngo's service "enabled approximately $1.1 billion in new account fraud at banks and retailers throughout the United States," according to government estimates, "and roughly $64 million in tax refund fraud with the states and the IRS..." Ngo said he wasn't surprised that his services were responsible for so much financial damage. But he was utterly unprepared to hear about the human toll. Throughout the court proceedings, Ngo sat through story after dreadful story of how his work had ruined the financial lives of people harmed by his services... "[D]uring my case, the federal court received like 13,000 letters from victims who complained they lost their houses, jobs, or could no longer afford to buy a home or maintain their financial life because of me. That made me feel really bad, and I realized I'd been a terrible person." Even as he bounced from one federal detention facility to the next, Ngo always seemed to encounter ID theft victims wherever he went, including prison guards, healthcare workers and counselors. "When I was in jail at Beaumont, Texas I talked to one of the correctional officers there who shared with me a story about her friend who lost her identity and then lost everything after that," Ngo recalled. "Her whole life fell apart. I don't know if that lady was one of my victims, but that story made me feel sick. I know now that was I was doing was just evil." The article says Ameria's secret service describes Ngo "as someone who caused more material financial harm to more Americans than any other convicted cybercriminal." "Ngo was recently deported back to his home country after serving more than seven years in prison for running multiple identity theft services. He now says he wants to use his experience to convince other cybercriminals to use their skills for good..."
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