This story was written by Mike Brody and originally appeared on the WISH-TV.com website.
A Seattle customer service representative who was the victim of identity theft in January was able to help police break up a ring of ID thieves when a woman tried to open a credit card account using her stolen identity.Michelle McCambridge, 23, was working at J.C. Penney when a woman asked to open a credit account in McCambridge’s name with a fake ID, according to the Seattle Times .McCambridge was shaken when she realized what was happening, but she composed herself enough to excuse herself and alert store security to the situation.”I’m very proud of her,” said Joseph Velling, a special agent for the Social Security Administration. “It was heroic.”Police couldn’t arrest the woman right there, but they were able to get surveillance footage of her which directly led to her arrest along with several others who police say were responsible for victimizing at least 39 people.”Out of how many customer-service desks, out of how many registers she could have gone to, and she had to come to me?” McCambridge said. “It was fate.”Last year, 8.4 million people in the United States had their identities stolen at a total cost of $49.3 billion.On Friday, Albert Gonzalez, a former federal government informant and the alleged ringleader of one of the largest known identity theft cases in U.S. history, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of conspiracy computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft related to theft of credit and debit card data from TJX Companies owner of T.J. Maxx, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, among other retailers.
