The seal of the U.S. Department of Justice is seen on a podium during a press conference. The DOJ has launched its largest-ever victim compensation fund for survivors of sex trafficking facilitated through Backpage.com. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says the last member of a family that operated a years-long Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability scheme has been sentenced to prison. The VA Office of the Inspector General (VA-OIG) says the scheme stole more than $1.1 million in VA funds.
The backstory:
The DOJ says Kelly M. Lee-Carroll, 58, of Kent, Washington, served in the Army for three months in 1986 and then joined the Army Reserves from 1986-1994 and in 2012 claimed a service-related disability and started receiving caregiver funding in 2013. Prosecutors said Lee-Carroll qualified for some disability payments but not…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.