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Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. knows that cyber crime is a growing problem.
He’s been a victim.
Vance was one of three elected officials who revealed having their identities stolen while announcing a $4.2 million grant to upgrade the cyber unit at the Manhattan DA’s Office.
Another victim was City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a mayoral contender in 2013 and one of the city’s top officials.
Vance said he was going through documents in an ongoing cyber-theft case in his office when he noticed that his own name and Social Security number were on the list of those whose IDs had been compromised.
Asked what happened, he said, “I think it’s fair to say someone’s working on it.”
And it didn’t end there for Manhattan’s chief prosecutor.
About 10 days ago, on a whim, Vance said he decided to check his credit- card balance. He noticed five charges to Dunkin’ Donuts and Trader Joe’s that weren’t his.
“I go to Dunkin’ Donuts, but I never used my credit card, and the Trader Joe’s was somewhere else,” he recalled.
Vance said he suspects his card number got out when he gave it to a local merchant to keep on file for future services.
Quinn similarly was taken aback when her credit-card bill showed the purchase of a “very expensive” one-way airline ticket to London and Abu Dhabi.
Since she never took such a flight, she quickly called to have the charge removed.
Her advice: “Don’t assume the credit-card company is going to look at the bills.”
Council member Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) said her bank account was hacked by someone who started using her account to write checks.
“I went up to The Bronx to see if I could find her,” said Brewer. “It was a fake address.”
Council member Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) had a much more common experience — an urgent e-mail from a “friend” at 3:44 a.m yesterday claiming he was stranded in Europe and needed money.
Jackson said it didn’t take him long to close that e-mail.
Vance’s office is handling 200 to 300 ID-theft cases a month. He described cyber theft on the Internet as the “crime scene of the 21st century.”