An ID fraudster has gone to jail for 15 months after using his neighbours’ Facebook accounts to work out the answers to their banks’ security questions – and stealing more than £35,000 over two years.
Neighbours targeted
In a fraud the judge described as “well planned, complex and clever”, Iain Wood, 33, targeted people living in the same block of flats as him in Newcastle.
Wood intercepted the mail of other residents. He was caught with other people’s bills, paperwork and even a passport, which he’d taken from neighbours’ post boxes.
Facebook data used
Then he would go online and say he couldn’t remember his password – and when he was asked security questions about date of birth or mother’s maiden name, he would use information he had found on Facebook and Friends Reunited to answer the questions.
When he successfully accessed accounts, he would change the address details, intercept cards and withdraw cash. Most of the accounts he targeted were dormant but he was able to use the overdraft facility without the victim – who never received statements – finding out.
No comments:
Post a Comment