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  • TD Bank waits seven months to notify customers of security breach.

    Posted on October 10th, 2012 admin No comments

    TD Bank is notifying an unknown number of customers that backup computer tapes containing their confidential personal information, including bank account and Social Security numbers, have been “misplaced,” putting them at risk for identity theft.

    Although the security breach occurred in March, the bank only recently began sending letters about it to customers. TD Bank spokeswoman Rebecca Acevedo said the delay was necessary as the bank conducted an internal investigation. But at least one customer called the lag “unconscionable.”

    “So what has happened to my personal information for the past seven months?” asked Lew Alessio, a Lewiston-Auburn area businessman who has both business and personal accounts with the bank.

    The security breach occurred in March when two backup tapes from a computer server were shipped from one TD Bank location to another. Acevedo said the tapes were misplaced in Massachusetts. She declined to say whether the tapes were the responsibility of a TD Bank employee or an outside contractor at the time.

    She said the bank held off notifying customers as it conducted an internal investigation. That investigation is ongoing and the bank has contacted Massachusetts law enforcement, as well. TD Bank began telling customers about the security breach a couple of weeks ago.

    “We weighed everything as far as the investigation and what was going on. We figured now was a good time,” Acevedo said.

    Acevedo declined to say how many customers were affected, though she said they live throughout the bank’s East Coast coverage area, from Florida to Maine. Notification letters are going out now and will continue until late October. Only affected customers will get a letter.

    The two-page letter calls the security breach an isolated incident and notes that the bank has no evidence to suggest customer data has been misused.

    Alessio received his letter Saturday. It told him TD Bank may have lost track of several pieces of his personal information, including his credit card number. He called TD Bank customer service to get more information, but he said representatives couldn’t answer his questions.

    “All they kept on doing was repeating the same information that was in the letter about how much they care about security,” he said. “So now what do I do? Obviously I monitor my credit information, but do I really want to stay with this bank?”

    Among his questions: Why did TD Bank wait seven months to tell him about the breach?

    It is unclear whether such a delay is allowed. Maine law permits businesses to conduct an investigation before notifying customers of a security breach, but that notification must be made “as expediently as possible and without unreasonable delay.”

    The law provides no timeline, except that customers must be notified no more than seven days after law enforcement determines that such notification won’t compromise a criminal investigation. It’s unclear when TD Bank called in Massachusetts law enforcement and whether the bank waited to notify customers to get the OK from police.

    In its letter, TD Bank offers affected customers a year’s worth of free credit monitoring. However, Alessio said he tried to set up his monitoring Monday and was told he would be charged.

    (original post)

  • The Identity Theft Resource Center Statistics

    Posted on June 27th, 2008 NewSunSEO No comments

    The Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC) released an important report discussing the impact of identity theft victimization. Since 2003, the Identity Theft Resource Center has conducted annual victimization surveys to study the impact of identity theft crimes on its victims. Now in its fifth year, the report allows us to analyze the data, draw some conclusions, map trends and identify areas for further research. While ITRC reports the data in terms of percentages, it is critical that we remember those numbers represent people. These are people with lives that have been interrupted, altered, torn apart and/or changed.

    Sources of Stolen Information: With a five-year history to study, it
    is clear that, according to the respondents, about one-third of cases
    were started by a person known to the victim. The next highest
    category of identity theft originated from a lost/stolen wallet or PDA.
    Scams have become more of a problem for victims in 2007 than in
    previous years. Identity theft due to mail theft and theft of
    information from a burglary of a car or home has dropped in the past
    few years.

    Victim Hours Repairing Damage: In The Aftermath 2007, victims reported
    spending an average of 116 hours repairing the damage done by identity
    theft to an existing account used or taken over by the thief. Answers
    also included 6,000 hours, 8,640 hours, and 5 years of time (outliers).
    In cases where a new account was created, respondents reported an
    average of 158 hours to clean up the mess with outliers of “endless”
    and “too many to count.”

    Extended involvement: In 2007, 70% of victims indicated that it took
    up to 12 months to clear issues of all misinformation, compared to 50%
    in 2006. A moderate amount of victims (12%) took one to two years.
    Unfortunately, some 19% indicated that it took two or more years to
    resolve their case.

    Unexpected secondary effects: Victims reported a number of additional
    problems including: increases in insurance rates, current credit card
    interest rates and criminal records not being cleared. The inability to
    get credit resonated with the majority of respondents (64%). In
    addition, 53% have collection agencies still calling; 27% had credit
    cards cancelled (even though the accounts were being properly
    maintained); 18% said it affected their ability to get a job; and 14%
    reported tenancy issues.

    Relationship of Imposter to Victim: It is important to note that a
    large percentage of respondents seem to have been victimized by those
    who may have had easy access to personal identifying information
    including friends, family members, ex-spouses/significant other, or
    those in close contact with the victim, such as co-workers.

    Emotional Impact: Few significant positive changes have occurred in
    the feelings of victims and in terms of reported victim symptomology.
    More than 49% of the respondents reported a stressed family life; 22%
    felt betrayed by unsupportive family members and friends; and 23% said
    their family didn’t understand. The strongest feelings expressed were rage
    or anger; betrayal; unprotected by police; personal financial fears; sense of
    powerlessness; sense they were grieving, annoyed, frustrated or exhausted;
    sleep disturbances; an inability to trust people; and the desire to give up and
    stop fighting the system. Long-term emotional responses included suicidal;
    feeling captive; ready to give up; and felt that they have lost everything.

    Before you have to deal with all of this in addition to having your identity stolen,
    SHRED ALL OF YOUR CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL DOCUMENTS!!!!!

  • Identity Theft Suspect Accused Of Stealing More

    Posted on June 24th, 2008 NewSunSEO No comments

    Jocelyn S. Kirsch can’t seem to break the habit.

    Already described as a poster child for identity theft by Philadelphia’s top federal prosecutor, a handcuffed Kirsch ended up in court yesterday after prosecutors said she stole another credit card in California last week.

    She wasn’t charged in the theft, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski set federal bail at $50,000 and ordered Kirsch, 22, held under house arrest until another court hearing next week.

    Kirsch is expected to plead guilty June 5 in U.S. District Court in Center City to a six-count complaint charging her and boyfriend Edward K. Anderton with using the good names and credit of others to finance a yearlong, $119,000 spending spree. Anderton, 25, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, has a court date Monday and also is expected to plead guilty.

    U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan has said he would seek five-year terms for both.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen said Kirsch took the credit card of an acquaintance and used it.

    Earlier this month, Meehan called Kirsch and Anderton – dubbed a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde by police – the “poster children for identity theft.”

    No one was immune from their greed, Meehan said. They allegedly preyed on coworkers, neighbors and friends. The list also included another couple from whom the pair took information, first when they were guests and later when they burgled their hosts’ home. Officials said the duo’s elaborate scheme involved at least 16 victims before they were arrested in December.

    Their actions ranged from simply stealing purses at a Center City bar to establishing multiple accounts under different names and wearing disguises to withdraw money from some of those bank accounts, prosecutors said.