The company behind all of those 1-800-GET-THIN commercials, the ones that run in high rotation on daytime TV with that catchy jingle, "Let your new life begin. Call...", is getting sweated by the federal Food and Drug Administration to correct misleading claims in its advertising. more ›

A homeless man accused of stealing an Orange County woman's identity for the past 13 years and racking up over $100,000 in medical expenses has been arrested. A San Clemente deputy discovered 51-year-old Perla Serrano - who was convincingly posing as a woman - violating a city ordinance by sleeping in a grassy public area. When the deputy noticed a hospital wristband on the suspect listing a different name than the one given, he grew suspicious. more ›

More than 200 "blank access cards" and fraudulent credit documents for celebrities and characters including Tim Burton, Tommy Lee Jones, and "Gaylord Focker" were found inside a Burbank motel on Wednesday when Christopher Herrick, a 43-year-old on parole for embezzlement, and 42-year-old Traci Godlef were taken into custody on suspicion of identity theft and forgery, reports the Glendale News-Press. more ›

After a lengthy investigation, 27-year-old Akop Tadevosovich Changryan of Glendale is in custody on suspicion of using a credit card skimmer at a Shell gas station in Laguna Beach, according to Glendale Press News. The skimming devices Changryan placed on gas pumps allowed him to steal customer information, produce fake credit cards and make unauthorized purchases with them. To date, nine victims have been identified and thousands of dollars worth of merchandise was charged to their accounts from cities as local as L.A. and Long Beach and as far away as New Mexico and Arizona. Officers ID'd Changryan through physical evidence at the scene. He is being held without bail in Orange County Jail. more ›

Using fake plastic to pay for fake plastic (body parts) didn't pan out quite as planned for one OC woman. 30-year-old Laguna Niguel's Yvonne Jean Pampelllonne was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for "using a fraudulent line of credit to obtain $12,000 in cosmetic surgery, including breast implants and liposuction," according to the Daily News. Pampellonne had pleaded guilty to charges of "burglary, grand theft and identity theft." While the judge ordered restitution, repayment is expected to come in the form of cash, not a return of the, uh, goods that were unlawfully obtained. more ›

It's hard to juggle being a beauty queen and a wife and mom...but even harder if you add a whole other identity to the mix. Manhattan Beach's Susan Shaw was once Miss Hawaii International, and had a husband and children in Oahu who didn't know she also had a life here in SoCal. Shaw was arrested in Honolulu last month, after detectives here found her rented home full of "hundreds of stolen credit cards," along with "Social Security numbers, addresses and birthdays of victims and potential victim," according to abc7. more ›

The LA Times is reporting this morning that the UCLA system was hacked during the months of October and November, exposing the names, emails, and social security numbers of 800,000 current and former students. A letter that is going to be sent out today to the victims from Chancellor Abrams states that there is no evidence of misuse of the social security numbers... so far. "We take our responsibility to safeguard personal information very seriously.... more ›

Flights into Los Angeles International Airport were disrupted this morning after an instrument landing system failed on one of the airport's runways, authorities said. - LA Times The Los Angeles Police Department is asking for the public's help in locating 19-year-old Jessica Edwards, who is autistic and has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old child. - LAPD Blog Hospitals in Los Angeles County overall lag behind the statewide average when it comes to in-hospital... more ›

In the same vein of stolen ATM cards, the LA Times reports on the growing problem of identity theft. The story focuses on how the merchants take the brunt of the cost when claims are filed and how none of the agencies involved, not the banks, the government, or the retailers seem all that concerned with informing consumers when their credit cards or other information has been compromised. more ›