ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604080044
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE ID NUMBERS and mothers' maiden names of at least 10,000 people were used to activate stolen credit cards.
A Social Security worker gave confidential information on at least 10,000 people to a credit-card fraud ring, which ran up at least $330,000 in unauthorized charges, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The data - Social Security numbers and mothers' maiden names - was used to activate credit cards stolen from the mail, the Times said.
A federal investigation began in February after Citibank noticed an unusual amount of fraudulent charges on credit cards mailed to customers, cards the customers said they never received.
The employee, who was working for the agency in Brooklyn and is not named in court papers, chose to cooperate with authorities when she was confronted, the Times said.
She led investigators to an employee of the city's Human Resources Administration, Emanuel Nwogu. Nwogu was charged last week with fraud and released on bond, Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in New York, told The Associated Press Friday night.
Smilon said the case involved about $300,000 in unauthorized purchases. He also said the investigation was continuing and that more people would be arrested.
After Citibank notified Social Security, the agency determined that a woman working at its Brooklyn office had checked the records of at least 23 of the 52 cases in which cards were activated by non-cardholders using mothers' maiden names. The same worker had looked up personal records for 10,000 people since January 1995, the Times said. In contrast, 10 other employees in that office had looked up records for only 1,200 to 1,400 other employees.
The Times said the case is linked to the February arrest of a man in Louisiana, Tony Iohya, who was found with what prosecutors said was data stolen from the same Social Security office.
The New York case is the first known wide-scale break into the vast Social Security database, which contains personal information on virtually every working American, said Philip A. Gambino, the director of press affairs for the agency. The agency is ``shocked and disheartened'' by the case, Gambino said, and will look for ways to improve security.
The case is also part of an increasing number of incidents nationwide in which information is stolen from business, medical and government files. While much attention has been paid to hackers who break into electronic databases through high-tech back doors, experts say most computer crime is committed by employees who are authorized to use the systems.
``The human link is the weakest link in any information security program,'' said Ira Winkler, technical director for the National Computer Security Association. ``If you are a clerk making $12,000 or $18,000 a year, and someone offers you a few hundred to a few thousand dollars every so often to look up some specific information, it's a tempting offer.''
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB