3 charged in largest identity fraud case in US

‘‘With a few keystrokes, these men essentially picked the pockets of tens of thousands of Americans and, in the process, took their identities, stole their money and swiped their security,’’ he told a press conference.

Authorities said the total amount of losses was estimated to be in the millions of dollars, but could be worse as the investigation unfolds.

Comey said the scheme was orchestrated by Philip Cummings, an employee at Teledata Communications, a firm based in New York.

Teledata provides banks and other corporations with access to consumer credit information from the three commercial credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and Trans-Union. None of the bureaus were implicated in the scheme, authorities said. Comey said Cummings had stolen passwords and used them to access credit ratings, which he then allegedly sold to a network of more than 20 other individuals for about $60 per report.

Cummings, with two other defendants — Linus Baptiste and Hakeem Mohammed — allegedly started the scheme in early 2000. Baptiste was arrested in early October and Cummings turned himself in on Monday, Comey said.