Wyndham Hotels in Florida notified the state Attorney General about a data breach in which the credit and debit card information as well as personal data of 21,000 hotel guests was compromised in December 2008. Wyndham notified the affected guests by letter.
So far there has been no evidence that foul play has occurred, but Wyndham is urging those affected to be vigilant and obtain fraud alerts from the major credit bureaus.
Another solid piece of advice would be to watch for suspicious credit card activity. Any suspicious charge can be challenged and taken care of fairly easily with your credit card company. This is yet another reason to use credit cards rather than debit cards. If your debit card information is compromised, thieves can easily drain your bank account before you even notice a problem.
Read the original story by clicking here.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Non-fat, Low-foam Laptop Please!
Starbucks has once again lost a laptop containing employee data. In October 2008 the company lost a laptop that contained 97,000 employee's personal data, including Social Security numbers and addresses. I guess that fits in the extra-extra-large cup. Notice I said "once again?" In November of 2006 a laptop containing personal data of over 60,000 current and previous employees was also stolen. The difference is, this time the employees decided to file a lawsuit.
Some employees are saying that Starbucks took too long to notify them about the breach and provide them adequate time protect themselves against identity fraud. Starbucks has offered the employees one year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring, but some employees are asking for up to five years. Some of the plaintiff's have seen evidence of fraud due to the data breach, and are therefore seeking monetary damages.
This is bad news for you coffee drinkers. If this lawsuit is successful, I would expect to see the price of a Starbucks coffee increase. It's going to take a lot of beans to pay for the double blunder.
You can read the full story here.
Some employees are saying that Starbucks took too long to notify them about the breach and provide them adequate time protect themselves against identity fraud. Starbucks has offered the employees one year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring, but some employees are asking for up to five years. Some of the plaintiff's have seen evidence of fraud due to the data breach, and are therefore seeking monetary damages.
This is bad news for you coffee drinkers. If this lawsuit is successful, I would expect to see the price of a Starbucks coffee increase. It's going to take a lot of beans to pay for the double blunder.
You can read the full story here.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Going to the Hospital?--Leave Your Purse at Home
If you are making a trip to the hospital, you will be making yourself exceptionally vulnerable to others. No, I am not referring to the quality of medical care from the doctors and nursing staff. I am referring instead to the probability of your becoming a victim of identity theft and fraud.
To illustrate the point, I refer to a recent event that occurred to a patient while staying at Scottsdale HealthCare Shea in Scottsdale, Arizona. The patient, a 79-yr old woman seeking treatment, was apparently victimized not once but twice by two separate members of the support staff operating independently and without knowledge that the other had also victimized the patient.
The alleged perpetrators are Nancy Adame 34, and Sylvia Cubit 40. The victim reported to police that she had been contacted by her bank about suspicious activity in her account. When she examined the contents of her purse after her stay at the hospital, she discovered that personal checks, credit cards, and her debit card had been stolen.
Nancy Adame has been charged with fraud, theft, and forgery and has been released pending completion of the investigation. Slyvia Cubit (who also works at another Phoenix area hospital and medical laboratories) has been arrested after Scottsdale police obtained a search warrant and entered her home finding evidence linking her to several other identity thefts. She, Cubit, has been charged with theft, aggravated identity theft, theft of a credit card, forgery, fraudulent use of a credit card, trafficking in the identity of another, and trafficking in stolen property.
What lessons do(should) the rest of us learn from the misadventures of these two hospital staff?
To illustrate the point, I refer to a recent event that occurred to a patient while staying at Scottsdale HealthCare Shea in Scottsdale, Arizona. The patient, a 79-yr old woman seeking treatment, was apparently victimized not once but twice by two separate members of the support staff operating independently and without knowledge that the other had also victimized the patient.
The alleged perpetrators are Nancy Adame 34, and Sylvia Cubit 40. The victim reported to police that she had been contacted by her bank about suspicious activity in her account. When she examined the contents of her purse after her stay at the hospital, she discovered that personal checks, credit cards, and her debit card had been stolen.
Nancy Adame has been charged with fraud, theft, and forgery and has been released pending completion of the investigation. Slyvia Cubit (who also works at another Phoenix area hospital and medical laboratories) has been arrested after Scottsdale police obtained a search warrant and entered her home finding evidence linking her to several other identity thefts. She, Cubit, has been charged with theft, aggravated identity theft, theft of a credit card, forgery, fraudulent use of a credit card, trafficking in the identity of another, and trafficking in stolen property.
What lessons do(should) the rest of us learn from the misadventures of these two hospital staff?
- Difficult times often brings out the worst in people.
- Constant vigilance to guard against identity theft is always a good idea.
- Motive and opportunity are all that it takes.
- Don't assume that others are not motivated to steal from you and your creditors.
- You can influence, if not control, how much opportunity is provided to identity thieves.
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