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Man may have stolen 30,000 credit reports

By Bloomberg News

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NEW YORK — A former employee of a company that helps banks and other businesses access consumer-credit data stole credit histories of thousands of people, in what may be the largest identity fraud ever, prosecutors said yesterday.

More than 30,000 people in the United States with credit data on file at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion were victims of a three-year scheme by Philip Cummings, who worked on the help desk at Telecommunications Data and had access to client passwords, authorities said. The company can download consumer-credit histories, prosecutors said.

Cummings downloaded credit reports using access codes belonging to Ford Motor's credit arm; two units of Washington Mutual, in Florida and Tennessee; and Central Texas Energy Supply.

Criminals who obtained the stolen credit reports used them to take out loans in the names of their victims, buy merchandise, deplete bank accounts and order credit cards, authorities said.

Prosecutors say consumers and financial institutions lost at least $2.7 million.

Bay Shore, N.Y.-based Telecommunications Data provides software and computer devices to banks and other businesses that need to access consumer-credit data from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the top three reporting agencies. With the software and personalized access codes, Telecommunications Data clients can directly access credit information.

From mid-1999 to mid-2000, while working on the company's help desk, Cummings learned the passwords and codes of Telecommunications Data clients, prosecutors said. After leaving the company, he used the information to download credit reports himself, they said. The scheme ran from 2000 to mid-October.

Cummings, 33, was charged with wire fraud.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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