Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Want Identity Theft Examples? 10 Unbelievable Identity Theft Cases

One thing is for sure. You never think it can happen to you. But when you read this countdown to the most incredible identity theft cases recorded, chances are you’ll think again because these identity theft examples will astound you.

A fraudster named Gerald Barnbaum lost his pharmacist license after committing Medicaid fraud. He got his credentials after stealing the identity of Dr. Gerald Barnes and went on to practice medicine under his name. A type 1 diabetic died under his care. And what’s even more astonishing is that “Dr. Barnes” even worked as a staff physician for a center that gave exams to FBI agents. He is currently serving hard time.

A man named Mark Tufano got his little joy ride by impersonating famed actors like Gary Oldman. In this identity theft example Tufano sent a video of himself as Gary Oldman portraying Andy Kaufman. And what’s even more surprising is that it actually fooled the man who wanted Oldman to portray Kaufman in Man On The Moon. The real Gary Oldman caught wind of the scam and got it busted.

Drug smuggler Marcelo Nascimento da Rocha impersonated Henrique Constantino, the brother of the CEO of Gol Airlines. He enjoyed the jet-set high life but then he got busted after sleeping with a woman who actually knew the real Constantino. Talk about identity theft examples, I think this one is hard to beat. Not sure? Let's read on.

Keep an eye on your wallet! The likes of Andrea Harris-Frazier had better not get their hands on YOUR wallet. When Margot Somerville lost her wallet on a trolley, two years later she was arrested. Andrea Harris-Frazier had defrauded several banks—using Somerville’s identity—out of tens of thousands of dollars. The real crook was caught.

Watch out for the innocent looking roommate

Brittany Ossenfort got a new roommate, Michelle, who got a haircut just like Ossenfort’s. One day Ossenfort received a call at her office from the cops asking her to bail herself out of jail. As it happens, “Michelle” had been hooking on the streets, literally posing as Ossenfort and was caught. What’s even more shocking is that it turns out “Michelle” was really Richard Lester Phillips, living as a woman.

Lara Love and David Jackson were a California couple who one day began tapping into a neighbor’s wireless Internet router. This led to them raiding the neighbors’ personal data. By the time this pair were busted, thirty victims had been affected.

Frederic Bourdin liked to impersonate missing children, including Nicholas Barclay, a missing teen. And he practically fooled the teen’s family, despite Bourdin looking nothing like Barclay (including different hair and eye color—amazing, isn’t it?). More stunning is that the family was fooled for nearly a year until fingerprints proved his real identity. He’s been in and out of jail since.

Ferdinand Demara was a daring serial imposter who used medical books to fudge his way through surgeries he performed onboard a ship during the Korean War… by impersonating Dr. Joseph Cyr. Prior to this caper, he had faked his own death and even went AWOL under a friend’s name when in the Army. Some of these identity theft examples are so elaborate, they'd spice up the plot to a bestselling novel any day of the week.

According to authorities, busboy Abraham Abdallah pulled off a massive identity theft and ripped off some of the richest people in America, including Steven Spielberg. Armed with basic information about the wealthiest people in the U.S. from Forbes Magazine, Abdallah allegedly used computers in Brooklyn libraries to get detailed confidential information about 200 of those listed. Then, posing as his victims, he tried get money from their brokerage or investment bank accounts. Read the full report on this stunning scam here.

Phillip Cummings, a fat cat who worked for a software company, sold customers’ credit card reports to a Nigerian ID theft ring for $30 each—30,000 times. That’s an unbelievable $900,000 in illegal earnings. You wanted identity theft examples? Well there you have it!

Seriously?! Really, get identity theft protection!


Thursday, June 8, 2017

Serengeti through the Lens of Academy Award Winning Cinematography

The feature film Serengeti Shall Not Die, released June 25, 1959, was written, produced, directed and narrated by German producer Bernhard Grzimek. It won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award for Best Documentary Feature - 1959. When I was still a kid growing up in Dar es salaam -- many years after its release -- I remember seeing this movie with my parents at the Drive In Cinema. I will remember that experience for the rest of my life. It was amazing. This article, through the lens of award winning cinematography, will discuss the Serengeti; how its beauty has inspired the movie industry; and how you too can experience its incredibly vast treeless plains -- 30,000 square kilometers of it!

The Lion King, a 1994 animated feature film from Walt Disney and its subsequent theatrical production, were inspired by the Serengeti.  The Lion King, a musical, garnered two Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. Elton John composed the songs and Tim Rice was lyricist with an original score by Hans Zimmer. This movie grossed over eight hundred million dollars worldwide and until 2003, it was the most successful animated feature film. To date, it remains the sixth highest grossing animated film and the highest grossing hand-drawn animated feature film. Disney didn’t stop there. They later produced a sequel, The Lion King II and Simba's Pride (1998); and a prequel/parallel, The Lion King 1½ (2004).

The fact that the movie’s inspiration came from the Serengeti speaks volumes. And to think that its ecosystem, wildlife and national park have not only inspired the movie industry, they’ve inspired, bedazzled and attracted many a tourist from all over the world, says a lot about this wondrous safari destination. Serengeti has well and truly earned its rightful place as one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world. It offers seemingly endless plains; the world famous circular migration of over two million mammal across Tanzania and Kenya; and a guaranteed front row view of an action packed tapestry of diverse habitats ranging from riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands; and not to mention Wildebeests, gazelles, zebras, buffalos, giraffe, lion, leopard and cheetah to name but a few. To borrow the title of the movie that brought Serengeti to the world, I say, Serengeti shall not die!

In Summary: A Hollywood movie studio, inspired by the Serengeti, brought us blockbuster animated movie The Lion King. The movie grossed in excess of eight hundred million dollars around the world. A German producer, back in 1959, brought Serengeti Shall Not Die to cinemagoers around the world and won an Academy Award for best feature film that year. Tanzania’s Serengeti, to have attracted the attention of movie producers, and to have been appreciated and embraced by people around the world says a lot about what it (Serengeti) has to offer the world in terms of its ecosystem, wildlife and national park. To plan a trip to the Serengeti to see for yourself where the inspiration for all these incredibly successful movies came from, consult your tour operator and please do make sure that you book your safari holiday early.

About the Author: Anthony J. Namata is a travel writer and Internet marketing consultant to travel & tour operators. To book a safari in Tanzania, contact Arusha based tour operator Abrojaley Africa.