Countrywide insider stole mortgage applicants' data (and sold it), FBI says

[Robbien]

Source: LA Times

The FBI on Friday arrested a former Countrywide Financial Corp. employee and another man in an alleged scheme to steal and sell sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, of as many as 2 million mortgage applicants. The breach in security, which occurred over a two-year period though July, was one of the largest in years, experts said.

. . .

In an affidavit filed in federal court, the FBI said Rebollo had voluntarily described the scheme. Rebollo said he would charge $400 or $500 for batches of thousands of "leads" -- personal and account information that presumably would help outside loan agents solicit new mortgages from the Countrywide applicants, some of whom had been denied loans by the Calabasas company.

. . .

At that rate, the U.S. attorney's office said, Rebollo would have compromised up to 2 million customer profiles for about 2.5 cents each -- an astonishingly small amount considering the importance of the material. Mortgage leads are among the most expensive for sale because of the potential payoffs to intermediaries when loans are made.

. . .

Social Security numbers alone generally fetch dollars, not pennies, since they can be used to open new bank accounts. "It's the potential for new-account fraud that arises when Social Security accounts are compromised," said Beth Givens, director of the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

"This guy obviously didn't do his homework. He doesn't know the value of these on the black market," she said.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-arrest2-2008aug02,0,7330731.story

[BlooInBloo]

1. Poor BoA.

[CountAllVotes]

2. gee now I know why

I must have gotten close to 20 or 30 offers from CountryWide the past few years. I've never done any business with them or BofA ever! I have always wondered how they got my name and address. :mad:

:wtf:

I hope they lock these f'ers up!

:kick:

[TlalocW]

3. I'll gladly accept Countrywide's declaring my mortgage as paid in full

As an apology.

TlalocW

[frog92969]

4. ditto

But there must be some way to secure our identities.

[Faith No More]

5. Do you remember

the tv ad with the apple pie kind of guy saying, "No one can do what Countrywide can?" Just a great big lovable teddy bear kinda company, huh.

[Auggie]

6. Throw away the key

I'm sick of these stories. He screwed with a lot of people's lives. No slap on the wrist here. I want real jail time.