Thieves Get Data On 10,000 In State

[XPerties]

The information of more than 10,000 Floridians may have fallen into the hands of identity thieves. Letters will soon be sent to possible victims.

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN AND NATALIE P. McNEAL

The personal information of more than 10,000 Floridians -- things such as birthdays and bank account numbers -- was released to identity thieves in a massive security breach.

It's the kind of information that can be used to create credit card accounts or drain bank accounts.

Overall, 145,000 people living in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories will receive warning letters, which will be sent out by the end of the week. Only California and Texas had more people affected than Florida. California authorities estimate a half-million people could have had their information stolen.

The announcement Monday from the data broker ChoicePoint comes in the wake of revelations last week that criminals posing as legitimate businesses in California were able to gain access to 19 billion pieces of information on individuals.

ChoicePoint is one of several companies that gather personal information on people, then package and sell it for profit. Its mishandling of that information has set off a political firestorm from California to Washington, with some public officials calling for stepped-up regulation.

'We are getting very close to `Big Brother is watching you,' '' U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said during a news conference Monday. ``If this is not an eye-opening threat to our privacy, then nothing is.''

The lost data could make thousands of Floridians vulnerable to identity theft, a danger that has already hit an estimated 5 percent of Americans, according to California's Identity Theft Resource Center. So far in this case, the ID theft ring has defrauded at least 750 people.

HUGE AMOUNT OF DATA

ChoicePoint is one of the largest warehouses of personal data in the country. The Georgia-based company keeps a massive store of records that includes everything from an individual's date of birth and Social Security number to their employment history and driving records. Employers, loan officers, law enforcement and media outlets, among others, pay ChoicePoint for access to its databases.

Companies like ChoicePoint, said Linda Foley, co-executive director of the California identity theft center, ``know as much about you as God does.''

SCANDAL NOTIFICATION

Now, in an effort to contain the widening scandal, ChoicePoint is sending letters to everyone whose information may have been given to a fraud ring. It asks people to call a toll-free number and urges consumers to check their credit reports for suspicious activity.

The company said it will purchase credit reports from all three major bureaus and a one-year credit-monitoring service for all individuals who receive letters. Letters are expected to be sent out this week, the company said.

''We want you to know we take this criminal activity seriously and are aggressively addressing it,'' the company said in a statement. It also noted the incident was not a breach of ChoicePoint's network or a ''hacking'' incident. Instead, the company was duped.

ChoicePoint also said it is requiring about 17,000 business clients to go through a credentialing process to verify they are legitimate.

PAST SCANDALS

Publicly-held ChoicePoint is no stranger to controversy.

In 2000, it bought Boca Raton-based DBT, a data collection company that had its contracts with the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI suspended because its founder was once suspected of ties to Bahamian drug smugglers. DBT also was hired to help build Florida's infamous felon list for the 2000 presidential election. Many of those people, who were purged from voter rolls, were actually eligible to vote.

The breach was first discovered in October, ChoicePoint said, when it detected signs of fraudulent activity in the Los Angeles area. But it said that city authorities asked the company to not notify individuals because of a pending investigation.

In late January, it said it was cleared to begin notifying Californians. In connection with the fraud, a Nigerian citizen last week pleaded no contest in California state court and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

PRIVACY LEGISLATION

Only California has a law requiring data collection agencies to immediately notify people when their personal information has been stolen or given to suspicious groups.

And Nelson has renewed his call for federal legislation requiring that data brokers take more care with the sensitive information.

''I don't like it one bit that a database company such as this collects millions of Social Security numbers, job applications, drug tests, and DNA analysis, and they don't have proper safeguards,'' Nelson said.

[firefoxthebomb]

nice reading but where did you get your source?

[XPerties]

nice reading but where did you get your source?

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10958438.htm?1c

[Leeta]

This is all to true......it happened to me, but not from this instance. I'm still trying to get out from under identity theft. It's scary how easy it is for people to do this to you and the victim has to prove their innocence.