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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Business ID Theft Soars Amid COVID Closures

Summary: Dun & Bradstreet recorded more than a 100 percent increase in business identity theft in 2019 and estimates a 258 percent spike for 2020, receiving over 4,700 tips and leads this year where business identity theft or malfeasance are suspected. Hold Security has been monitoring a gang operating in Georgia and Florida that looks up ownership records on Secretary of State sites, buys Social Security and Tax ID numbers on the dark web, files phony documents and creates or hacks Dun & Bradstreet accounts to obtain new lines of credit at stores like Home Depot, Office Depot and Staples.

Key Takeaway: Hold Security says the gang succeeds in getting new credit with about 20 percent of the businesses it targets, and has shifted toward filing unemployment claims and SBA pandemic loans in the names of dormant companies it already controls - with victims like Scott Russell and Mary McMahan reporting losses in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars before collections calls revealed the fraud.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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