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Terrorism and identity theft - do you know what your stolen credit card is really being used for?Terrorism and identity theft now walk hand-in-hand. In a recent and purportedly first "real" cyberterrorism trial in Britain, three young men pled guilty to stealing identities (including bank accounts, credit cards, etc.) in order to fund their terrorism ideals. They admitted to signing up for Web sites using stolen identities and credit cards. They then used these Web sites to publish terrorism propaganda and enlist recruits - using materials produced by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The suspects utilized phishing emails to solicit personal information from unsuspecting recipients. The prosecution alleged that the suspects, who were initially considered just computer geeks or hackers, managed to steal approximately $4 million through their identity theft and credit card fraud activities. Once the identities and credit cards where stolen, the suspects used them to order merchandise which was then shipped to various drop locations whereupon a network of thieves sold the goods for cash allowing the suspects to further fund their terrorism practices. Not exactly the activities of your friendly neighborhood computer geek. Their jail sentences ranged from about six years to 10 years behind bars. We all know it's a big enough hassle and concern just having our identity stolen, but it may be alarming to some when they learn of the extreme intent of some identity thieves. To read more about phishing and other email scams,
click here.
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