LexisNexis says it was used in ID theft fraud
Monday, May 4, 2009
LexisNexis said Friday that fraudsters used its service for more than three years to gather personal data to commit credit card fraud.
The data search and information retrieval services of LexisNexis and its ChoicePoint subsidiary were used by scammers to obtain personal information such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers. The scammers used the data they obtained to set up credit cards in other people's names.
LexisNexis has started warning about 32,000 people that their information was used to help the scammers illegally obtain credit cards, Computerworld.com reported.
"These individuals were operating businesses that at one time were both ChoicePoint and LexisNexis customers," the company said in letter that it began sending out to victims on Friday.
The identity theft and credit card scam involved fraudsters setting up fake mail boxes and personal information gathered on LexisNexis to open credit cards in the victims' names.
Computerworld.com reported that LexisNexis waited for more than a year to begin notifying the people who were subject to identity theft and fraud at the request of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
LexisNexis said the fraud was stopped in October 2007, but did send notification letters to victims until now.
LexisNexis said in the notification letter that it has implemented tighter data security since it became aware of the breach.
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