2 Tustin Brothers Arrested in Case of Identity Theft

Two Tustin men suspected of stealing the identities of more than 70 people, many of them Orange County residents, have been taken into custody, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Thursday.

Brothers Hong Ha Vinh Doan, 24, and Tho Vinh Doan, 22, allegedly had an assortment of driver’s licenses, credit cards, bank statements and pictures belonging to dozens of people, authorities said.

“Some accounts had been open, some were still to be opened,” said Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Doan, who is not related to the suspects.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country, costing consumers and credit card companies an estimated $3 billion a year, law enforcement officials say.

Criminals assume the identity of unsuspecting victims by stealing personal data, such as Social Security numbers, then use the information to run up large charges or drain bank accounts.

In 1998, Congress passed a law making identity theft a federal crime, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has proposed funding municipal task forces to investigate such offenses.

During a traffic stop Wednesday afternoon in Laguna Hills, deputies “found property [in the brothers’ car] that appeared to be stolen,” the spokesman said.

Further investigation led deputies to other sites and more incriminating material, Doan said.

Deputies also confiscated a handgun, ammunition, several thousand dollars in counterfeit bills and a large quantity of the illegal drug Ecstasy, Doan said.

Experts say the proliferation of Internet services that provide personal information for a nominal fee has given a boost to identity thieves. Last year, the Social Security Administration got more than 30,000 reports of misused Social Security numbers--triple the number of a year earlier. Los Angeles Police Department officials say identity-theft cases doubled to more than 3,000 last year.

In Orange County, the Sheriff’s Department’s economic crimes unit investigates more than 100 such cases a month.

“It is a huge problem and the public is just beginning to be aware,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Robert Molko, who heads his department’s fraud unit.

“Typically, the victim is totally unaware. . . . Then two, three years later, their credit is ruined.”

Investigators are still trying to determine how the Doan brothers allegedly obtained the fraudulent documents and are exploring the extent of the financial damages.

It was unclear Thursday whether the alleged victims had been notified.

Hong Ha Vinh Doan was being held at the Santa Ana Jail on a parole violation, and his brother, Tho, was in the Orange County Jail for a probation violation. Both have past convictions on identity-theft charges, the spokesman said.