An organized crime ring in Southern California is targeting the Social Security numbers (SSNs) of foreign educators who once lived in the United States, stealing personal data to open credit cards and pocket large sums of money.
The Los Angeles Times reported the scheme on November 7, citing anti-fraud firm SentiLink and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The outlets said a coordinated financial fraud operation is using SSNs belonging to former researchers, teaching assistants, lecturers, and professors who have since returned to their home countries.
Authorities said the group operates mainly out of Burbank and Glendale, and is believed to have ties to Armenian Power, a white-collar crime syndicate. The network allegedly targets individuals who lived in the U.S. between 1977 and 2024, exploiting the fact that sensitive personal data often remains in university databases or credit records even after victims leave the country.
Using these stolen identities, the fraudsters reportedly open bank accounts and credit cards, push credit limits to the maximum, and withdraw the proceeds. Victims include educators from Turkey, Japan, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Greece.
David Maimon, SentiLink’s head of fraud prevention and a professor of criminology at Georgia State University, said, “Scammers are creating credit cards in the names of inactive foreign scholars and maxing out the limits without the victims ever knowing.” He warned that such victims could face significant debt or poor credit scores, making home purchases difficult when they try to reenter the United States.
Sergeant Frank Diana of the LA County Sheriff’s Department said that these white-collar crime groups are skilled in identity theft, IP masking, and illegal money laundering.
SentiLink reported that the scammers use apartment addresses in Van Nuys, North Hollywood, and Glendale to receive mail, checks, and credit statements under stolen names. To conceal their tracks, they route internet connections through proxy IPs and even employ AI-generated fake IDs.
Security firms recommend several precautions against SSN theft, including: requesting credit report freezes while abroad, regularly monitoring personal credit records online, and reporting identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
According to Experian, in 2024 alone, the FTC received 1.1 million identity theft reports and 2.6 million fraud-related complaints, with total losses estimated at $12.7 billion.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
