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Theft of identity gets man prison
By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Clearwater resident Kevin Cobbs rooted through garbage, stole mail and set up false e-mail accounts -- all to garner information to set up fraudulent credit cards and raid bank accounts. He then racked up thousands of dollars in charges, including $5,064 on a card in the name of a man who had been dead since 1999, court records show. Cobbs was sentenced Tuesday to three years, 10 months in prison and must pay about $25,000 in restitution. He entered into a plea agreement, avoiding a trial and a potentially longer prison sentence. Cobbs, 38, was arrested last year after one of his victims alerted investigators, who tracked shipments to Cobbs' address in Clearwater. They also saw Cobbs go to an ATM in Clearwater and withdraw money using a fraudulently obtained credit card, arrest reports state. Cobbs was charged in federal court with bank and other fraud charges. At the time of his arrest, authorities said Cobbs was the architect of an elaborate scam. He retrieved billing information from the garbage at area banks and stole mail from homeowners' mailboxes. He set up telephone service in the name of various victims and used online Web sites to compile financial and personal information on his victims, several of whom were doctors. Cobbs then used the information, including social security numbers, to apply for credit cards. He even put a hold order with the U.S. Post Office on one victims' mail to delay the victim noticing the new charges. He also swiped money from bank accounts, court records show. He used faxes and e-mails to pull off the scam, often using computers at public libraries to make it harder to track what he was doing, authorities said. He also had many of the credit cards sent in his name to the homes of friends and family. About 750,000 cases of identity theft took place in the United States in 2000, accounting for a loss of more than $2-billion, according to government statistics. The crime increases by about 50 percent every year. Identity thieves find personal information on the Internet, from snatched purses or wallets and from diving for receipts in business trash containers, among other ways. A common ploy is to steal mail. Law enforcement officials often urge people not to place outgoing mail in their mailboxes. They suggest using the blue U.S. Postal Service mailboxes or delivering letters right to the post office. Flipping the red flag on personal mail boxes alerts criminals as much as it does mail carriers. -- Times' files and news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Graham Brink can be reached at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Letters |
