by Ian Johnson, CBC News

Some refer to con artists who aim to profit from other peoples' personal information as "sharpies," but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the sharpest knives in the drawer. Case in point: The ID thieves who apparently tried to sell information "stolen" from Herman Munster.

Yes, that Herman Munster, the Frankenstein-like character from the old TV show.

According to The Boston Globe, it seems the thieves somehow got their hands on Mr. Munster's "credentials" without realizing he was not a real person (possibly the result of some practical joker who filled in an ID form with bogus information).

The Boston Globe's report said the oblivious ID thieves, "offered to sell Munster's personal details - accurately listing his home address from the television series as 1313 Mocking Bird Lane - and what appeared to be his MasterCard number. Munster's birth date was listed as Aug. 15, 1964, suspiciously close to the TV series' original air date in September 1964."

The transaction involving the ID information was noted by internet security company Cardcops Inc., whose stated goal is to: "protect consumers from Identity Theft by providing them with the means of determining whether their credit card or other personal information has been compromised, even before it is used to commit a crime; AND help global Internet merchants reduce online fraud by identifying transactions containing compromised data."

There's nothing in Cardcops' mission statement about protecting fictional 1960s TV characters, but we're still hoping the thieves get nailed trying to use Herman's ID to swipe some swag from one of those merchants. As they say in the Mastercard commercials, that would be priceless.

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