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Blog / February 2006
Data breach at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Feb 1, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Officials at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs say a hacker has compromised personalinformation of hundreds of employees.They say someone who hacked into a computer Friday accessed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses for about 2,500 current...
FDIC releases free video on identity theft
Feb 1, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) release a video presentation to help consumers protect themselves from identity theft and fraud, focusing on electronic and Internet-based scams. The video provides steps for consumers to secure their computer and protect themselves...
George Mason University suffers security breach
Feb 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala
George Mason University recently discovered (in January) unauthorized access to a database that has exposed 32,000 people to potential identity theft, although no such activity has yet been traced to the security breach. More from Network World....
'Firewall' movie: Identity theft, the sequel
Feb 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Harrison Ford is ticked off again. But not because the bad guys have hijacked Air Force One or kidnapped his wife from a Paris hotel room; this time they've swiped his identity to break into the bank where he works...
IDENTITY THEFT AND FINANCIAL PRIVACY BILLS IN THE 109TH CONGRESS
Feb 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Consumers Union posted a document that summarizes all the identity theft and privacy related bills before US Congress. View here [PDF]Categories: identity, theft, idtheft, fraud...
New Research Shows That Identity Theft Is More Prevalent Offline with Paper than Online
Feb 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala
This is a follow up to my previous post about the just released study by BBB and Javelin. This is from a press release by the BBB. They say that it’s ‘surprising’ that in half the cases the perpetrator knows...
Criminal Background Check Legislation to Protect Michigan's Most Vulnerable Adults
Feb 3, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Here’s a stunning stat from this article: one of every 10 Certified Nurse’s Aides had outstanding criminal warrants! Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox today announced that legislation designed to protect Michigan's seniors and vulnerable adults in residential care facilities has...
WA State Officials Disappointed ID Theft Bill Scrapped
Feb 3, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Washington State Senate appears to have dropped the ball. OLYMPIA - Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna says he's surprised and disappointed that a Senate Committee has killed the top priority bill sought by a citizens' summit on identity...
Financial institutions keep close eye on identity theft
Feb 3, 2006 by Tom Fragala
This is a pretty long article from a newspaper in Colorado that talks about local banks’ dealings with fraud. Although the title of the article uses the term “identity theft,” in my experience many bank fraud investigators don’t consider bank...
Boston Globe & Worcester T&G print credit card numbers on paper bundles
Feb 4, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Here’s the original article announcing the massive mistake… Credit and bank card numbers of as many as 240,000 subscribers of The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette were inadvertently distributed with bundles of T&G newspapers on Sunday, officials of...
Credit card blunder ensnares my parents, too.
Feb 4, 2006 by Tom Fragala
After my last post, I realized that my parents, who live in the Boston area, are Globe subscribers. On a whim, I decided to go to that web page and see if they were effected. Sure enough, they were! I...
Attorney General Warns Missourians on Grant Scam
Feb 5, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Attorney General Jay Nixon wants Missouri consumers not to be fooled by con artists offering government grant money over the phone. Missourians are calling Nixon's Consumer Protection Hotline every day to report the identity theft scam.Consumers are called and told...
Hackers steal credit card info from R.I. Web site
Feb 5, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Russian hackers broke into a Rhode Island government Web site and allegedly stole credit card data from individuals who have done business online with state agencies.The story was first reported by The Providence Journal this morning and comes two days...
Prudentual Health Insurance Customer Data at Risk
Feb 6, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Jim Malmberg posts quite a disturbing story of how health insurance customer’s sensitive data is put at risk in a most unusual way. The disturbing part is that there is an easy solution and, if the story is true, sheer...
Mississippi Driver's License is I.D. Theft Risk
Feb 6, 2006 by Tom Fragala
I was shocked to read that 17 states and DC still use social security numbers on driver’s licenses. I didn’t realize the number was still so high. Keeping SSN’s on driver’s licenses is such a blatant disregard for consumer privacy...
IRS publishes 'Dirty Dozen' tax scams
Feb 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The IRS published a report today outlining scams that take advantage of consumers—and scams that consumers try to pull on the IRS itself. IRS says 'phishing' and zero wages are just some of the cons being run by tax cheaters...
MA Atty General Issues Fraud Alert re: The Boston Globe
Feb 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala
As often happens, fraudsters are always quick to pick up on unfortunate events and take advantage of people. The other day I posted about the newspaper credit card debacle. Now the Massachusetts Attorney General has issed a fraud alert about a...
Non-profit ITRC Has Its Logo Stolen?
Feb 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala
A website called ID-Theft-Recovery.com appears to have taken their logo from the ID Theft Resource Center (for whom I am a volunteer victim advocate). The ITRC has been around since 1998 and is the leading source of victim advocacy and ID...
Controversy brewing around Stormpay and 12 Daily Pro
Feb 8, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Internet payment system Stormpay is involved in a battle over their reputation with one of their e-commerce customers. It’s a confusing story, so I recommend you read the story below, especially the links off the page. The gist of...
Illinois Becomes First State to Launch Identity Theft Hotline
Feb 9, 2006 by Tom Fragala
GuardMyCreditFile posted this story. It’s interesting to see a state make this effort. I wonder how many people will be staffing the call center—a serivce like this won’t do much good if the line is always busy. But “A” for...
IL Atty General Releases Top Ten Consumer Gripes from 2005
Feb 9, 2006 by Tom Fragala
You’ll notice in the article that identity theft didn’t even crack the top 10. Gasoline prices was the #1 complaint which seems totally upside down to me. The article explains that the Illinois AG only received 325 complaints about ID...
Analysis of 2005 Data Breaches
Feb 9, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Payments News blog referenced a study by ID Analytics about data breaches and ID theft…. ID Analytics has announced findings from its analysis of publicly-available information on 70 data breaches that occurred in 2005 showing that few of the...
FBI, SEC Probe 12 Daily-Pro and "Autosurf" Web Sites Offering Large Returns
Feb 10, 2006 by Tom Fragala
I thought I was onto something big when I posted the other day about 12 Daily Pro. Sure enough, in today’s Wall Street Journal there is an article entitled FBI, SEC Probe Web Sites Offering Large Returns for Looking at...
Bankers group issues scam alert
Feb 11, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Bank officials were warning Missouri residents of a new telephone scam targeting elderly bank customers.A statewide warning was issued by the Missouri Bankers Association regarding the scam, which attempts to obtain personal banking information from the elderly, according to a...
Data deletion bill introduced in Mass.
Feb 12, 2006 by Tom Fragala
From Ars Technica… If Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) has his way, US websites will no longer be able to store personal data about web surfers unless that information has a legitimate business purpose. Markey's bill, known as the "Eliminate Warehousing...
Advice to bloggers to protect themselves from fraud
Feb 13, 2006 by Tom Fragala
If you write a blog, you may be a target of identity theft someday. I am going to write a more detailed post about this in the future. However, for now, please think twice before you post personal information on...
Nigerian scammer gets prison time
Feb 14, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Identity Theft Prevention Blog posted this: Finally, a Nigerian scammer gets prison time....
Be Wary of Charities Calling for Donations
Feb 14, 2006 by Tom Fragala
A charity scam that bilked people out of $10 million was shut down in Wisconsin. An Appleton man is among eight people arrested Tuesday in connection with a charity solicitation scam that allegedly brought in more than $10 million during...
Arkansas AG Releases Identity Theft Stats for 2005
Feb 14, 2006 by Tom Fragala
In recognition of 2006 National Consumer Protection Week, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe recently provided new statistics from the Federal Trade Commission on fraud-and-identity-theft trends in Arkansas and the nation.Arkansans reported a record number of 1,617 identity theft cases in...
FTC Charges Sellers of Avlimil, Rogisen & Other Supplements
Feb 14, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Company Charged Customers for “Free” Samples; Made Deceptive Claims for Some PillsThe Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against marketers selling dietary supplements, including Avlimil and Rogisen. According to the complaint, the defendants have been offering consumers “free” samples of...
FTC Testifies on the Sale of Consumers' Phone Records
Feb 14, 2006 by Tom Fragala
An Entire Industry of Companies That Sell Phone Records Has Developed, Testimony NotesThe Federal Trade Commission today told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Product Safety, and Insurance that the agency is currently investigating...
Identity Theft Knows No Boundaries
Feb 15, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company recently released a poll on identity theft… A new identify theft survey, one of the first to examine how the crime affects both African Americans and Hispanics, confirms that no minority group in the U.S. is...
FBI Opens Probe Of 12dailyPro Site
Feb 16, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FBI has launched a formal investigation into 12dailypro… The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it has initiated an inquiry into 12dailyPro.com, an Internet marketing company that has shut down most operations amid...
FBI makes connections in data breach case
Feb 16, 2006 by Tom Fragala
A data security breach that has spurred at least two large banks to cancel thousands of customer debit cards appears to be connected to an older ongoing investigation in Sacramento, the FBI said Friday.Scores of Bank of America and Washington...
Tech columnist is ID Theft victim
Feb 17, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Mike Wendland, a consumer technology columnist for the Detroit Free Press writes about his ID theft experience on his blog here. Tags: identity+theft, idtheft...
Identity Theft on Long Island, NY
Feb 18, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Long Island Press reports that the people had their sensitive person data posted on a government web site. When a corporation leaks sensitive data, the result can be action by the Federal Trade Commission or state authorities. What happens when...
Microsoft Sues Phishers Over Identity Theft
Feb 18, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Microsoft filed 117 lawsuits this week against unnamed defendants accusing them of identity theft, also known as phishing. Phishing is defined by the Wikipedia as the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire through deception sensitive personal information such as...
Stolen Identity Blocks New Job
Feb 18, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Nineteen-year-old Melissa Goza couldn't figure out why her credit card applications were rejected time and time again. It only became clear when she was turned down for a new job: she's a victim of identity theft. More from KXTV: Stolen...
FDIC Releases Guide to Preparing Financially for Disasters
Feb 19, 2006 by Tom Fragala
FDIC Consumer News is an online newsletter and the latest issue features a guide to preparing financially for fires, floods and other disasters. Other topics include online ID theft and fraud prevention and a coming increase in FDIC insurance for...
27,000 Social Security Numbers Stolen
Feb 20, 2006 by Tom Fragala
GuardMyCreditFile reports that data on 27,000 employees and customers of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida was stolen. The data included Social Security Numbers so there is a significant threat of ID theft. Tags: data+breach, idtheft, identitytheft...
Identity theft makes sheriff into teacher
Feb 20, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Maine Sentinel newspaper has a story about a sheriff that got hit by a phishing scam… Waldo County Sheriff Scott Story has more sympathy for victims of identity theft these days since he was scammed or, more accurately, "phished.""I...
ID theft victim warns others
Feb 21, 2006 by Tom Fragala
This story jumped out at me because an in-home caregiver stole the identity if her client. I can’t post every ID theft story I see, because there isn’t enough time in the day. However, I want to emphasize that you...
Watch Out for Jury Duty Identity Theft Scam
Feb 21, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Officials Warn Of Jury Duty Identity Theft Scam. Callers Ask For Personal Information.North Texas police are warning about a telephone scheme that has trapped victims in nine states. Officials said the caller or callers make the victims think they were...
ID Theft Summit in LA
Feb 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Tomorrow, Thursday Feb 23 06, I am going to be at the ID Theft Summit. It’s being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and is open to the public. If you’re planning to attend and want to meet, send...
Blogging from the ID Theft Summit
Feb 23, 2006 by Tom Fragala
I am writing this from the ID Theft Summit in Los Angeles. It’s around 945am and Governor Schwarzenegger just finished speaking. He managed to get everyone laughing when he joked that so far he hasn’t been hit by ID theft...
More blogging from the ID Theft Summit in LA
Feb 23, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Right now Mari Frank is talking. She’s quite a good speaker. Interesting fact: 10 billion pre approved credit card offers were sent last year! She is a victim herself. She has a fascinating story about a victim (Raymond Lorenzo) she’s...
Montana ID Theft Law Becomes Effective March 1st
Feb 25, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The State of Montana HOUSE BILL NO. 732, goes into effect March 1, 2006. The bill package includes a number of protections for consumers. It requires most businesses in Montana to take precautions when disposing of customer records. Also, businesses must alert...
Sun Microsystems' CEO has SSN exposed by Ernst & Young
Feb 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Register is reporting that Ernst & Young failed to disclose a data breach… Ernst and Young should go ahead and pony up for its own suite of transparency services. The accounting firm failed to disclose a high profile loss...
TX Attorney General warns of bank scams
Feb 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Fraudulent emails from supposedly trusted organizations show no signs of slowing down. Bottom line: NEVER trust any email that asks you to enter, confirm or update any personal information… Several major financial institutions urge consumers to avoid fraudulent e-mails. Texas...
Do hotel card keys store sensitive data?
Feb 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Computerworld appears to have exposed this as nothing but an urban legend. Warning: Hotel card keys may contain personally identifiable data on the magnetic stripe. Is it fact—or fiction? As part of a Computerworld investigation into the allegations, reporters and...
Free audio recordings on ID Theft, phishing & credit reports
Feb 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The California Office of Privacy Protection and Department of Consumer Affairs have released several free podcasts with information about ID theft, phishing and other consumer fraud. They are currently located on the home page of the OPP: Office of Privacy...
Newspaper coverage on Truston
Feb 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala
I attended the ID Theft Summit in LA last week (see here and here for my posts). While I was there, I was interviewed by the Ventura County Star. My quote made the front page of Friday’s paper (February 24)....
EPIC blogger writes about ID theft summit
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Chris Hoofnagle, Director of Electronic Privacy Information Center (West coast), attended the ID Theft Summit too, and he blogged about it here....
Cox Offers Free Anti-Phishing Software to Prevent ID Theft
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Cox Communications (the cable TV/internet provider) is offering cusomers a new, free software to help prevent them from getting hit by phishing scams. It’s part of their overall free software security site—looks like you have to download all of them...
Scam artists continue to target Hurricane Katrina victims
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
An increasing number of scam artists are targeting Hurricane Katrina victims and officials say the schemes appear to be getting more creative by the day. Linwood Grierson, vice president at Merchants & Marine Bank, and Ellen Cole, president of The...
CardSystems Solutions Settles FTC Charges
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Payments News is reporting that CardSystems, responsible for a huge data breach, is settling with the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission has announced that CardSystems Solutions, Inc. and its successor, Solidus Networks, Inc., doing business as Pay By Touch Solutions,...
IT exec sentenced to eight years for Acxiom data theft
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
This case involved the theft of a billion—yes a billion—records from Acxiom, the data services company. Scott Levine, formerly principal owner of e-mail marketing company Snipermail Inc., was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison on charges related to the...
Data breach at the University of Northern Iowa
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Over half of all data breaches last year (and so far in 2006) are at educational institutions, according to Linda Foley of the ITRC. Universities are notorious for weak security. About 6,000 employees at the University of Northern Iowa were...
Auditor loses McAfee employee data
Feb 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala
An external auditor lost a CD with information on thousands of current and former McAfee employees, putting them at risk of identity fraud.The disc was lost on Dec. 15 by Deloitte & Touche USA, McAfee spokeswoman Siobhan MacDermott said Thursday....
12dailypro to shut down; strikes deal with SEC
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Securities and Exchange Commission and 12dailypro have reached a tentative agreement that essentially ends the Charlotte Web marketing firm's alleged $50 million scheme that attracted 300,000 members worldwide in less than a year. In a complaint, the SEC...
Sen. Diane Feinstein writes Op-Ed piece about ID theft
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
This is from Daily Review Online and written by California’s senior US Senator. EVERY FOUR seconds in America, another person falls victim to identity theft. It can happen in any number of ways. A wallet is stolen; a credit card...
AOL Files Lawsuits Against Three Major Phishing Gangs
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
AOL is apparently the first ISP to use the VA’s new anti-phishing law. To help battle the rising tide of email phishing scams, devious email hoaxes, and complex identity theft on the Internet, AOL has filed three civil lawsuits against...
Will Colorado finally have ID theft legislation?
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Colorado, way behind the rest of the country, may see real ID theft legislation if a new bill gets passed. Fraud, forgery and identity theft share close ties with a rising methamphetamine problem in Weld County -- a tie not...
The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Oregon backup tape incident results in firing and policy changes
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
David Fraser is reporting on his blog a follow up to the recent news about a data breach by Providence Home Services in Oregon. Nice to see someone following up, David. The company is reported by Computerworld to have carried...
AL Atty General Publishes Identity Theft Info
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
The Alabama Attorney General has published a guide on preventing and recovering from ID theft. It appears at first glance to be fairly comprehensive, as these things go. I don’t believe that a static web page or sheet is helpful...
A Little Story About Credit Card Fraud
Feb 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala
A Border’s employee anonymously writes in their blog about how the store they work at ignores (encourages?) credit card fraud. In the post, colorfully entitled “Scumbag,” the author refers to it as identity theft, however, that term probably doesn’t apply if...