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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Hacked Data Broker Accounts Fueled Phony COVID Loans, Unemployment Claims

Summary: A fraud group of several hundred people stole tens of millions of dollars from state and federal treasuries through phony SBA loan applications and unemployment insurance claims, using personal and financial records pulled from compromised customer accounts at Florida data broker Interactive Data LLC. IDI Holdings CEO Derek Dubner acknowledged "a handful" of authorized customer accounts had been compromised, and a researcher monitoring the group's communications identified more than 2,000 people whose Social Security numbers and dates of birth were used to file claims.

What's compelling: The dossiers the thieves shared included full SSNs, dates of birth, addresses, credit lines and the associate data needed to answer knowledge-based authentication questions, so a single compromised broker account can unlock identity checks across many institutions. The SBA's inspector general had already identified $250 million in loans to "potentially ineligible recipients," and one credit union told the Justice Department that 59 of 60 SBA deposits it received appeared fraudulent.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Fraud & Scams
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