Yolanda Denise Scott, 31, worked in Wachovia Bank’s exceptions department and, in 2007, allegedly fed stolen account numbers, signature cards, routing numbers and personally identifying information to Schnikia Scruggs, 37. Scruggs, in turn, passed account information on to Germaine Monroe, 57, according to the indictment.

All three women are from the Atlanta metro area.

Scruggs, 37, is accused of using the stolen account information to electronically transfer thousands of dollars into her PayPal and bank accounts. The money was allegedly used to make online payments on utility bills and retail charge accounts.

Monroe allegedly received information from Scruggs that gave her access to at least one of the bank accounts. She also allegedly transferred money from the account into a PayPal account, and used the stolen funds to electronically pay bills.

Each of the defendants has been charged with one count of bank fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

Scott and Scruggs each face four counts aggravated identity, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years for each charge and must be served consecutively to a prison sentence for the conspiracy charge.

Monroe has been charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft.

Visit LifeLock.com for information on their identity theft protection tools and strategies. Nearly 1.5 million members trust LifeLock to help protect their identities, credit scores and reputations.

Many people still think identity theft is something that only happens to other people, but the statistics show otherwise. In 2007,

• 8.4 million Americans fell victims to identity theft.
• Losses came to $49.3 billion for the year.
• Identity theft has been the top complaint tot he Federal Trade Commission for the last five years.
• Identity theft victims spent an average of 600 hours trying to resolve issues related to the theft of their identity
• Identity theft victims lost and average of $5,720, and spent an average of $1,400 trying to repair their credit and re-establish their good name.

The Identity Theft Resource Center conducts an annual Aftermath survey of identity theft victims. The 2007 survey revealed that 62% of respondents reported that thieves had committed financial crimes that resulted in arrest warrants being issued in the victim’s name. That number is more than 250% higher than the number of non-financial identity theft reported in 2006.

LifeLock provides award-winning identity theft protection service to almost 1.5 million Americans, many of whom have already experienced the nightmare of identity theft. To find out why so many people choose Life Lock, visit their website at LifeLock.com. Read the testimonials, endorsements and stories of some of their members.

Once you’ve learned more about LifeLock and the exclusive services they provide, enroll using the LifeLock promo code Defense, and get a discount on service.

Speed began his attack by posing as a police investigator when he called Reynolds’s mother and threatened her with arrest if she didn’t give him her daughter Mary’s contact information. She gave him the phone number.

Then he called Reynolds’s house and threatened her with arrest over a $399 gas card bill from 2000. Ironically, that amount was fraudulently charged on Reynolds’s Shell credit card by a former boyfriend with a drug problem. Identity theft was confirmed then, and Reynolds was released from any responsibility for the bill.

When Reynolds balked at paying the $399 “Investigator Murdock” demanded, he brought up the legal problem she’d gotten into years ago for picking flowers on someone else’s private property. “Murdock” used that incident to intimidate Reynolds.

Finally, Reynolds’s husband urged her to pay the $168 compromise amount to put the entire mess behind her. Reynolds agreed to pay the $168 with a business credit card, giving “Murdock” the card number over the phone.

Reynolds’s bank called a few days later with questions about some strange charges on the card. They thought it a little odd that Reynolds’ business card was being used to pay for access to Internet pornography sites, three bowling balls, bowling shoes, bowling shoe covers and an additional $162 for overnight shipping to Buffalo.

Anytime you divulge your credit card number, you give someone else access to your identity and credit. Visit LifeLock.com to learn more about their identity theft protection services, and what they can do to help protect your credit and your name.  Enroll using the LifeLock promo code Defense and get a discount on service.

Along with lost and stolen wallets, home mailboxes provide a huge cache of information for identity thieves. There are, however, a number of simple measures you can employ to protect your identity and credit from thieves.

Never leave incoming mail in the box. Grabbing one credit card, a pre-approved credit card offer or credit card statement out of the box is the simplest way for an identity thief to start a spending spree at your expense.

Never leave payments in your mailbox. That raised red flag is a siren song to thieves.

Best bet: Use your home mailbox as a decorative planter, and rent a mailbox at your local post office instead. In most zip codes, mailbox rental costs between $10 and $20 every six months.

Receive and pay you statements online. Contrary to what you might have heard, the Internet is far safer than giving and receiving by mail – and you get to enjoy that warm, fuzzy feeling for preserving our forests.

Keep in mind, though, that while these practices reduce your chance of being victimized, LifeLock helps to take your protection to the next level.

Identity thieves very often submit a change of address request to redirect someone else’s mail. That’s why LifeLock developed TrueAddress to scan the millions of address change requests given to the US Postal Service. If your address shows up, you’ll be notified immediately, and LifeLock will work with you to secure your information.

If your wallet is ever lost or stolen, make a single call to LifeLock – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – and they’ll immediately begin canceling and replacing all your lost or stolen documents.

And that data breach thing? Visit LifeLock.com to learn more about their other identity theft protection services, and find out why they’ve become the service of choice for almost 1.5 million customers. When you’re ready to enroll, use the LifeLock promotional code Defense and get a discount on service.

If, on the other hand, you’re one of those last minute people who don’t even start shopping until the last-minute sales during Christmas week, you have about two months to go.

Either way, online shopping is the best way to save time and money. But did you know it’s also the best way to shop and protect yourself from identity theft?

Think about what happens when you’re making a purchase in a brick and mortar store. You trust a lot of people with your personal and financial information, without knowing a thing about the store employee or the store’s policy for safeguarding your data.

Hand over a check, and you’ve given up your name, address, phone number, date of birth, driver’s license number, bank account number, and your bank’s name, routing number. Nine states still use the Social Security number as the DL number, so for those people the risk is even greater.

Even scarier is the ease with which thieves sitting in a parked car outside TJX stores stole 90 million records. All the criminals had to do was use a simple antenna to locate stores using wireless routers to transmit the data.

Compare that to the security level of most online stores. Most credit card companies augment that security with unique account number for each online account. In addition, your credit card company bears the brunt of any ID theft that may occur.

Whether you shop online or in a brick and mortar store, the absolute best way to help protect yourself from identity theft is with LifeLock’s award-winning services. Go to LifeLock.com for more information. Enroll using LifeLock promotional code Defense for a discount on service.