Busy Week for Identity Theft in Texas

By Robby Ward

Thursday, June 19, 2008

It seems as if the old Texas adage of everything being bigger holds true with ID theft as well… at least this week.

Today in Dallas a man was indicted by a grand jury for stealing PGA Golfer Justin Leonard’s identity. The crook (30-year old Joel Keith Bridger), who obtained Leonard’s SSN, and Drivers License Number (doctored with his own picture) was caught by a witty postal worker while trying to pick up Mr. Leonard’s mail, as the worker knew the Leonard family. Mr. Bridger, if convicted, now faces up to two years in prison.

Next, a Houston based company - Sunsmart Convenience Stores parent company, Petroleum Wholesale, L.P. has been charged by the Texas Attorney General with “failing to protect its customers’ sensitive information”, by knowingly dumping an unknown number of documents, containing social security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit/debit card information, behind their headquarters in Houston. The company now faces up to a $50k fine for each record.

Lastly, another consumer class action suit was filed earlier this week in Tyler Texas against LifeLock, a leading Identity Theft solution provider. The suit filed by Marks & Klein mimics the other 5 suits filed against LifeLock and alleges that LifeLock’s advertising campaign misled consumers by “dramatically overstating the level of identity protection the company provides”. The suit also tacks on similar allegations, alleging that the identity of Mr. Davis (CEO of LifeLock) has been used fraudulently numerous times while on the service.

These three events exhibit a wide cross-section of the Identity Theft landscape and the struggles that businesses, consumers, and solution providers face today.