Credit-card scam ensnares officers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says hundreds of military officers have become victims of credit-card fraud after their names and Social Security numbers where published in the Congressional Record and on the Internet.

The Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over credit-card fraud, has taken the lead in an investigation after reports that some of the military's top officers were caught in the scheme."It's something the Defense Department has been concerned about for some time," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday after reports that one Web site listed the names and Social Security numbers of 4,500 military officers. The information was culled from the pages of the Congressional Record.

Whitman said the Pentagon no longer provides Social Security numbers to Congress.

Self-styled Pennsylvania privacy expert Glen L. Roberts, who acknowledges putting the names and numbers on his Web site, said he was merely trying to underscore the ease in getting such data.

"People in the Pentagon are outraged that I would be so bold as to quote the Congressional Record," Roberts said.

In 1968, the military services began using Social Security numbers as general identification numbers for all military personnel. Until recently, these numbers were routinely carried in the Congressional Record every time military promotions were reported to the Senate.

Roberts said he has not posted any new Social Security numbers on his Web site since the Congressional Record stopped publishing them and that there is no way to tell whether identity crooks obtained the names from his site, or from the Congressional Record itself.