News & Resources

Local business in Alabama deals with identity fraud

Aug 26, 2011 Matt Roesly

In Florence, Alabama, federal officials are trying to find 27 local employees accused of identity theft, TimesDaily reports. According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly 20% of the complaints received by the organization during 2010 related to identity verification issues. Florence police Sgt. Cliff Billingsley said that 2 arrests were made already, and the remaining criminals have yet to be apprehended. "We’re still actively searching for them; the problem is they are in different areas on different job sites and by now they know we’re looking for them and they could be in hiding," Billingsley said."The Social Security numbers ... were from some who were dead, some that lived in other countries, other states and a few were just made up numbers." FBI agent Dan Girsch, who is in charge of the investigation, mentioned that his team is trying to determine a link between all 27 suspects. According to the news source, the suspects' employer had no idea his employees were working under false identities.