ALAMEDA — A search of a man's laptop as part of an identity theft investigation revealed that he was in possession of the personal information of 95 people, including their credit card numbers, police said.
Tou Man "Ray" Kuan, 23, was arrested Wednesday on an $80,000 warrant at his Alameda residence and is expected to face multiple felony charges in connection with the case.
Kuan admitted to using the credit card number of at least one woman to try and purchase a $360 Sony Play Station on the Internet, police said.
Investigators are piecing together how someone acquired the information, which included people's names, addresses, credit card numbers, as well as the security number on the back of each credit card that is meant to prevent the card's misuse.
Kuan told police he received the list from an acquaintance in Japan, and detectives suspect that he may have been planning to use the credit card numbers to play online games with his friends.
Alameda police began investigating Kuan in August after they were notified by the Parker County Sheriff's Department in Texas about the attempt to purchase the PlayStation.
The victim was a 46-year-old woman who lives in the county, Alameda police Detective Greg Ella said.
"He admitted that he tried to purchase the Play Station on eBay," Ella said about Kuan. "He said he was 'testing' the information on the list to check whether it actually could be used."
tracked down Kuan through records at Alameda Power & Telecom, where his Internet account was used for the eBay transaction, Ella said.
After he was interviewed, Kuan allowed police to search his laptop, which led them to discover the personal details of 95 people, police said.
The victims live throughout the United States and include some people who live in Canada.
"In some cases they had detected fraud on their cards," Ella said. "But in most they did not know that their card was compromised and that their information was floating around the Internet."
Kuan remains in custody at Santa Rita county jail in Dublin.
In the wake of the case, police are reminding people to take steps to avoid becoming identity theft victims, including shredding old account statements and other documents that may contain personal information.
Police also suggest people regularly check their credit and bank accounts for fraudulent activity.
News Source : http://www.mercurynews.com/
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