Identity Theft Grows to Shocking Levels in Rhode Island

You say you've done everything possible to protect yourself against identity theft. You're very careful with your information, don't post anything on line, in fact maybe you don't even own any credit cards. Can you still be a victim of identity theft? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Two recent major identity theft incidents in the state of Rhode Island left residents frustrated, angry, and frightened. One incident happended at a national chain grocery store, Stop "n" Shop, the other happened through a large regional hospital, Westerly General. The good news is that state and federal agencies did act right away to try and halt or minimize the damage. The bad news is, no one knows exactly how extensive the damage is.

Due to the sharp observations of the Stop 'n' Shop staff in Coventry, RI, police were alerted when one group of thieves returned for a second helping at their store in Coventry, Rhode Island. Authorities arrived and immediately arrested the suspected thieves. Perhaps the men thought that in semi-rural Coventry, no one would know what was happening. They were wrong.

Four men, thought to have come from California, have been arraigned on charges of stealing money from customer accounts through information they heisted from the checkout lane keypads at Stop 'n' Shop grocery stores. Mikael Steoanian, Arman Ter-Esayan, Arutyun Shaterevyan and Gevork Baltadjian have been charged with the thefts of credit-card information, debit card information and more than $100,000. Surveillance video from the store in Coventry showed the men leaving after allegedly replacing the keypads with their own, in order to steal the information. Since then, the chain has bolted down all their keypads so to make them inaccessible to further tampering.

According to police, the suspects also targeted stores in Cranston, Providence, Bristol, Warwick, RI and Seekonk, MA. It has not been disclosed as to how much was stolen from those location or how many people were affected. The men are also suspected of being tied to similar incidents in Las Vegas, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Richmond, VA. Authorities called the scheme "bold" and "clever". If you steal one person's wallet, you get just their information. If you steal one keypad from a store, you get hundreds of people's account information.

Citizen's Bank has stepped forward to assist customers affected by the scam. It has issued new bank account numbers and new debit/credit cards to the individuals. New legislation was passed in Massachusetts recently regarding who pays when something like this happens. Currently in most states, it is the bank that absorbs the loss. The new Massachusetts law says retailers involved in the incident are responsible to pay.

On Friday, Federal officials expanded their investigation to include the possibility that the group involved in the store keypad scam may be linked to organized crime from a foreign country. Foreign theft gangs have become very active in the southern California area, so authorities speculate they may have traveled to Rhode Island to strike a whole new territory.

In the other major incident, patient records from Westerly Hospital were discovered to be posted on a public website this week. It was discovered by accident when a local woman goggled her own name and found a link to the website. She discovered her own patient information posted there. About two thousand patient records were plainly posted for anyone to see. Patient names, addresses, social security numbers, and in some cases medical information was posted on the site. The accounts appeared to be ones active in January 2007.

Although authorities had the website shut down within a few hours of notification, no one knows how long the information had been posted and accessible on the site. Hospital officials are taking every measure they can and are working with the FBI and other agencies to track down the reason for the breach.

All patients on the posted list have been informed and advised by hospital authorities. However, all recent patients of the hospital should check all their accounts, credit cards, credit report and alert their creditors. A hot line has also been established by the hospital to assist the families involved. Hospital authorities have vowed to find the reason and people resonsible for the records leak.