SHREVEPORT, La. – Authorities say 10 employees of a Texas cable contractor and a former Comcast worker are accused of using at least 1,200 Comcast customers' personal information to open 3,600 fraudulent cable accounts in northwest Louisiana.
Caddo Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff Steve Prator says the scheme cost Comcast, RMH Cable of Austin, Texas, and customers more than $1.2 million in commissions, equipment and service.
He said Comcast hired RMH to find new Shreveport-area customers, and the conspirators allegedly found residents willing to have cable service installed using others' information so the contractors could collect commissions averaging $300 per account.
He said the Caddo-Shreveport Financial Crimes Task Force began getting identity theft complaints in April 2013. Most were from people outside the parish who received collection notices on overdue accounts they'd never heard about.
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