Identity Theft News

Seattle man convicted of identity theft via Limewire P2P site

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A 34-year-old Seattle man was sentenced to more than three years in prison yesterday for identity theft in a scheme using the Limewire P2P file-sharing site to steal personal information from users for committing fraud.

The man, Frederick Eugene Wood, received 39 months in prison and three years of supervised release for wire fraud, accessing a protected computer without authorization to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft, IDG News reported.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, law enforcement had arrested Wood for defrauding a victim through Craigslist - selling the victim an Apple computer box without a computer in it.

Police then found a computer containing documents with personal information for more than 120 people across the country, including tax returns, bank statements and canceled checks.

An analysis of Wood's computer by the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that Wood had used Limewire to access the personal information stored on other people's computers. With this information, Wood forged checks which he used to purchase high-value electronics items, some of which he sold on Craigslist.

Authorities learned Wood was an associate of Gregory Kopiloff, who was sentenced in March 2008 to 51 months in prison for using file-sharing programs for identity theft and fraud.