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Police Arrests Hingham Contractor for ID Fraud

A woman from Hingham employed as a state contractor allegedly hacked computer to steal sensitive data storing workers' compensation amounts. Later she used the identities to purchase gold and diamond ornaments.

According to the police, 56-year old Frances Osborn residing at 231 Hersey St. used credit cards in the accounts of three women and purchased $3,000 worth of gold and diamond rings, necklaces and other stuff. On January 23, 2007 as Osborn was waiting to take the flight to Florida, the State Police arrested her at Logan Airport.

Osborn told Medway police, while working as a contractor at the Department of Industrial Accidents, she used her position to obtain the Social Security numbers of Susan M. Nelson of Wrentham and Susan Osborne of Medway and also gathered credit cards in their names.

State Police said Osborn might have compromised personal information of about 1,200 workers who put forth their compensation claims. However, they have evidence of the misuse of records of only three people. Police started the investigation on January 16, 2007 when Susan Osborne reported to Medway Police that she fell victim to an identity fraud.

Armed with the search warrant Hingham and Medway police raided Osborn's home and found a range of items. They included bank statements, credit card details, and several receipts of transactions she fraudulently conducted over the Internet using stolen identifying information of the people, said Hingham Police spokesman Lt. Michael Peraino in a statement, reported TownOnline on January 31, 2007.

They also found a list printed out from the computer containing hundreds of people's names along with their identification details such as Social Security numbers and credit card numbers. The search warrant was being executed in Hingham town.

Medway Police charged Osborn with six instances of ID theft, four cases of property larceny worth $250, and six instances of misuse of credit card to obtain that property.

On February 1 2007, the Department of Industrial Accidents declared that it sacked Osborn. The agency also sent notification letters to the employees affected as a result of the breach. In addition it posted as apology note on its Website.

Related article: Police Arrests Six Suspects Associated With TJX Credit Scam

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