Friday, June 5, 2009
State of Virginia exposes 1/2 Million people
From a June 4th, 2009 Washington Post article, yet another Identity Theft problem is revealed, this time by the State of Virginia. More than 1/2 Million people's social security numbers might have been stolen from the state's prescription drug database in April. Hackers apparently tried to blackmail the state and demanded over $10 Million for the return of the personal pharmaceutical records from Virginia's Prescription Monitoring Program. The state mailed letters to those affected.
Labels: Identity Theft
posted by Paul A. Samakow, P.C. at
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
New Jersey is the latest to screw up, Identity Theft
Here is the exact text from a NJ Statehouse Bureau worker's Press Release:
Blunder puts IDs at risk
Social Security numbers 'misdirected' by agency Personal information of 28,000 'misdirected'
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
BY CHRIS MEGERIAN
STATEHOUSE BUREAU
Nearly 30,000 unemployed New Jersey residents now have something else to do besides looking for work: They can worry about who may have their Social Security number.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development notified thousands of people last week that their personal information may have been sent to companies they never worked for.
Those who received warnings were told the state had no way of knowing whether their information was sent incorrectly.
"This letter is to inform you that due to an error at the Department of Labor and Workforce Development your name and Social Security number may have been accidentally delivered to an employer for which you did not work," the letter reads.
Also included in the letter were details on how to halt the release of credit information, which is allowed by New Jersey's Identity Theft Prevention Act. However, the letter also noted a freeze on credit reports can create problems when consumers seek loans that require creditors to access credit information.
"It's important to remember the information was not stolen, simply misdirected," reads the letter. "Nevertheless, you should be aware of the situation and alert for irregularities that may suggest your personal information may have fallen into the wrong hands."
Letter recipients were directed to call the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs for more information on credit reporting and identity theft protection.
Labor Department spokesman Kevin Smith said warnings were mailed to 28,000 people, but he said the number affected is probably much smaller.
"This is a fluke," he said. "This was just a clerical error."
Smith said the error occurred when department staff last month sent first-quarter reports to businesses that included a list of former employees receiving unemployment benefits. Because some companies had laid off a significant number of employees, the reports were longer than usual, requiring staff members to stuff the envelopes by hand rather than by machine, Smith said.
Some reports, he said, were placed in the wrong envelopes. Smith said seven employers called the department to say they received information on people they never employed.
"We hope the only ones that were sent in error were the seven we heard from," he said.
New Jersey has about 375,000 residents collecting unemployment benefits. About 240,000 companies receive notices about former employees collecting benefits.
The combination of a person's Social Security number and name can be dangerous, said Pedro Morillas, legislative advocate for the Public Interest Research Group in California, which experienced one out of every six identity theft cases in 2006.
"They can rack up a huge bill and walk away," he said. "That's why a credit freeze is the best option."
Jeff Lamm, spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, said the agency has received several calls from concerned residents but is unsure if anyone has been a victim of identity theft so far.
"We're letting people know what the law provides them," he said.
New Jersey's 2005 identity theft law requires companies to destroy personnel records that are no longer needed.
The number of identity theft victims in the United States increased 22 percent, to 9.9 million people, in 2008, according to Javelin Strategy & Research in San Francisco.
Other states have accidentally revealed people's personal information. In California, 64,000 tax forms were sent to the wrong addresses in 2006 due to a computer glitch. Documents posted on an Iowa government website in 2005 included Social Security numbers. In Wisconsin, up to 5,000 residents had their numbers exposed last year when a folding error made them visible through an envelope window.
So once again for everyone, this problem continues to grow. Get a service to protect yourself, and feel free to contact me for recommendations.
Labels: Identity Theft
posted by Paul A. Samakow, P.C. at
Friday, May 15, 2009
Identity Theft locally
This is the exact text from The Tech Herald, a paper in Baltimore, Maryland. This is absolutely frightening!
In a letter sent to Maryland's Identity Theft Program, Johns Hopkins Hospital reported that a single insider might have exposed patient records, over 10,000 of them, after an internal investigation into identity theft discovered a common link with the victims and the hospital.
The story starts in January, when Johns Hopkins started to receive reports from law enforcement, and some individuals themselves, that they were victims of identity theft. Johns Hopkins, with the aid of its corporate security department, local law enforcement, the USPS and Secret Service, narrowed the potential cause of the personal information leak to a single employee with access to the records in question.
Said employee, who is not named in the disclosure letter, had access to patient records as a part of her job at the hospital. Her job, it is explained, was in the patient registration area of the hospital. Law enforcement officials said there might be a link to the employee and a recent Virginia driver’s license scheme, while also admitting there might be more than one source of stolen information in the Baltimore area. Since 31 of the confirmed 46 identity theft victims
could be tied to the hospital, later tracked back to this employee, the letter says an indictment is expected soon.
Yet, this is where things get muddled. According to the letter, there is no certain evidence of a crime, and while the investigation narrowed it down to a single person, “there is no absolute certainty, at this time, that she was the source of the information,” according to the letter. However, because there is the off chance that she was the source of the information leakage, the hospital has moved to inform everyone who could be at risk.
For the 31 people identified as having any connection to the hospital, Johns Hopkins said it will offer two years of credit monitoring and $30,000 USD worth of reimbursements. Moreover, 526 people will get one year of credit monitoring and the same reimbursement; these are people who have Virginia addresses, who might be linked to the driver’s license scam. Lastly, 10,200 people will get a letter advising them of the steps to take to monitor their credit and report any suspicious activity, but they do not get the monitoring or reimbursement.
The morale of this story, as with all Identity Theft matters, is: Get protected with a service!!! I can recommend one.
Labels: Identity Theft
posted by Paul A. Samakow, P.C. at
Friday, May 1, 2009
Identity Theft victim prevails against Equifax
A woman whose identity was stolen in 2000 eventually got it all straightened out, after extraordinary mental and financial distress, and after her life was figuratively "turned upside down". The thief was eventually caught and prosecuted. This is quite rare, by the way. Statistically, only about 9% of all IDT crimes result in arrests. Anyway, back to this story. Everything was fixed, meaning all of her personal and financial information was put back into her credit profile and the incorrect information was removed from her credit reports. But then Equifax, one of the three credit reporting agencies, failed to provide correct information to potential creditors and mortgage companies. They supplied the wrong, false information from the 2000 identity theft, and the result was that this now twice victimized woman had all of the emotional distress all over again. She sued Equifax and in August, 2007 she won $200,000.00. She was later awarded an additional $268,652.00 for attorney's fees.
Morale of the story: Identity Theft is a serious problem, it is actually the single biggest crime in the world, passing drug trafficking! In 2007 the population of the US was over 303 Million, and there were over 162 Million reported breaches. There are several "services" out there and I can actually recommend an excellent service (which my family and I use) to you.
Labels: Identity Theft
posted by Paul A. Samakow, P.C. at
