Cursheena Patterson allegedly stole the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and birthdates of at least 17 individuals from her place of work in the identity theft fraud. According to documents filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Patterson then obtained counterfeit driver's licenses in those victims' names. To perpetrate the fraud, she used photographs of several of her illicit customers on the drivers licenses, providing them with fake IDs which they then used to obtain lines of credit in their own fraud, conducted at major retail outlets.
The fraud, which took place between October and December 2008, was used to obtain credit illegally from Best Buy, the Home Depot, and Lowe's. Purchases ranging from $332-$4621 were made using the fraudulent lines of credit obtained at the stores. Patterson was also charged with device fraud after using fake ID herself.
It has been a busy month for identity theft fraud prosecutors in general, and for Home Depot in particular. Alfred Darnell Ford was sentenced in a California court to 70 months in jail after running an identity theft fraud ring. Ford, who was also ordered to play over $91 000 in restitution, obtain stolen credit cards and other identity information, and used them to buy building materials from Home Depot for a house that he was building just east of Fresno.