A California couple has been indicted to steal the personal information of more than 9,000 people
According to NBC Los Angeles, a California couple including Natasha Chalk and her husband, Marquis Hooper, have been indicted for allegedly steal the personal information of more than 9,000 people.
A California couple has been indicted to steal the personal information of more than 9,000 people
Natasha Chalk and her husband Marquis Hooper have abused their positions in the US Navy to access and steal the personal information of more than 9,000 people. The couple then sold that amount for about $ 160,000 worth of Bitcoin. Chalk was arrested on Monday, while Hooper was arrested on Tuesday. According to reports, the couple faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused the couple of intending to use stolen personal information for sale. And they were charged with a crime related to identity theft.
Hooper, who was stationed in Japan at the time, was a small office with the 7th Fleet of the Navy, while Chalk was a naval reserve stationed at the Lemoore Naval Air Station, California.
Last week, the couple was charged with conspiracy to commit more serious electronic fraud, phone fraud, and identity theft.
In August 2018, Hooper contacted a company that stores millions of people’s personal information and announced it was conducting background checks on behalf of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
However, it is assumed that Hooper gave his wife and others, who are not named, access to the database account. Over the course of two and a half months, the couple ran searches on thousands of people.
Illegally obtained personal data was eventually used by the recipient to steal his identity, according to the indictment.
The couple’s lawyer, Michael McKneely, argued that:
“The pair utilized commercially available databases used by everyday people and also added the action by the couple was clearly part of the scope of their work.”
Prosecutors cite the case of an Arizona man who attempted to withdraw money from a bank account using a fake driver’s license that Hooper is believed to have found in the database.
Read more:
- Police In Daly City Are Investigating An Incident Of A Man Was Duped Out Of Approximately $27,000 In Bitcoin
- CipherTrace: Crimes Targeting The Cryptocurrency Sector Decreased By More Than Half In 2020