IDENTITY THEFT ALERT - WEST COAST

From the United States Secret Service:

This case revolves around a series of phishing emails purporting to be from numerous regional banks and credit unions around the United States from October 2006 to February 2007 in which hundreds of customers/victims have responded and had their accounts compromised. Preliminary investigation reveals some US conspirators and some overseas conspirators.

Victim financial institutions include Bank of America, PayPal, Washington State Employee Credit Union, and Arizona State Savings and Credit Union.These photos are of individuals in the greater Los Angeles area who withdrew money from the compromised accounts.

In particular, these suspects have frequented Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Orange, Westminster, Buena Park, and Huntington Beach. Most of the withdrawals occur between 4:00PM and 2:00 AM.There are hundreds of victims and the fraud loss is over $100,000.I'm trying to identify the individuals in the photos as they might be "cashout" runners for the actual phishers (i.e., the runners withdraw money from compromised accounts, take a percentage for their services, and send the rest to the phishers or another intermediary).Law enforcement agencies involved include the Los Angeles Field Office of the Secret Service, the Seattle Field Office of the Secret Service, and the City of Garden Grove Police Department.

If you have additional information please contact:Special Agent Erik RasmussenUnited States Secret ServiceSeattle Field OfficeElectronic Crimes Task Force