Woman Guilty of Fraud for Using Stolen Info from OPM Data Breach

According to a DOJ Press Release (June 18, 2018) "A Maryland woman pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to use the stolen identification information of victims of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach to obtain fraudulent personal and vehicle loans through Langley Federal Credit Union (LFCU).

According to court documents, Karvia Cross, 39, of Bowie, participated in and recruited others to engage in a fraudulent identity-theft scheme targeting LFCU. In 2015 and 2016, LFCU received numerous online membership and consumer loan applications in the names of stolen identities that were victims of the OPM data breach. LFCU approved and issued the requested memberships and loans prior to determining that they had been sought using the stolen personal identifying information of others. LFCU disbursed loan proceeds via checks and transfers into the checking and savings accounts opened through these fraudulent applications. Vehicle loan proceeds were disbursed by checks made payable to individuals posing as vehicle sellers, while personal loan proceeds were disbursed to LFCU accounts opened in connection with the fraudulent loan applications and transferred to accounts of others. Cross and others then accessed and withdrew the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds."
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While the 2015 OPM data breach likely involved Chinese state sponsored activities, the compromised data is available from sources other tan the Chinese government.  Use of data stolen in large data breaches (like OPM) may not occur for 1-3 years after the initial breach, giving time for credit monitoring to expire, and people to become less vigilant in protecting their personal and financial information.