{"id":282,"date":"2005-02-18T09:49:58","date_gmt":"2005-02-18T14:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scaredpoet.com\/wordpress\/?p=282"},"modified":"2005-02-20T11:18:27","modified_gmt":"2005-02-20T16:18:27","slug":"hi-we-screwed-up-and-expect-you-to-do-the-cleanup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/?p=282","title":{"rendered":"“Hi. We screwed up and expect you to do the cleanup.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

ChoicePoint has finally responded to my e-mail<\/a>! Though of course, it was with a form letter.<\/p>\n

In short: We’re a victim too, boo hoo. By the way, spend money and check your credit report.<\/p>\n

They wrote (or rather, copied and pasted):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

ChoicePoint was recently a victim of organized fraud, and we understand
\nthis news may be cause for concern.<\/p>\n

A very small number of criminals posed as legitimate companies in order to
\ngain access to personal information about consumers. When the fraud was
\ndiscovered, access to information was immediately discontinued and the
\nauthorities were notified.<\/p>\n

ChoicePoint has acted quickly to address the circumstances that led to the
\nunauthorized access, and we are committed to our core principles of working
\nto create a safer, more secure society through the responsible use of
\ninformation while ensuring the protection of personal privacy.<\/p>\n

We are sending letters to affected consumers whose information may have
\nbeen accessed. If you do not receive a letter from us, you have not been
\naffected.<\/p>\n

If you have not received a letter but are still concerned, here are some
\nactions you can take to help protect yourself from misuse of information.<\/p>\n

If you think you have been the victim of identity theft, you should place a
\nfraud alert on your credit report by contacting any one of the three credit
\nbureaus listed below. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud
\nalert, the other two bureaus will automatically be notified to place fraud
\nalerts on your credit report, and all three reports will be sent to you
\nfree of charge.<\/p>\n

Equifax
\n 800-525-6285
\n P.O. Box 740241
\n Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
\n www.equifax.com<\/p>\n

Experian
\n 888-397-3742
\n P.O. Box 9532
\n Allen, TX 75013
\n www.experian.com<\/p>\n

TransUnion – Fraud Victim Assistance Division
\n 800-680-7289
\n P.O. Box 6790
\n Fullerton, CA 92864-6790
\n www.transunion.com<\/p>\n

When you receive your credit reports, review them carefully. Look for
\ninquiries you did not initiate, accounts you did not open, and unexplained
\ndebts on the accounts you did open. If there are accounts or charges you
\ndid not authorize, immediately notify the credit bureau by telephone and in
\nwriting.<\/p>\n

You should also confirm that information such as your Social Security
\nnumber, address(es), first and last names, middle initial and employers are
\ncorrect. Errors in this information are often the warning signs of identity
\ntheft, although some inaccuracies may be due to simple mistakes. If you
\ndiscover inaccuracies in your report, you should also notify the credit
\nbureau as soon as possible so the information can be investigated.<\/p>\n

You should continue to check your credit reports frequently for the next
\nyear to make sure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.<\/p>\n

Finally, if you have discovered errors or suspicious activity on your
\ncredit report, you should consider immediately contacting any credit card
\ncompanies with whom you have an account and inform them about the activity.
\nYou should make sure they have your correct information on file and that
\nany changes to the account were made by you.<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more about your consumer information, you may
\nvisit our consumer site at www.choicetrust.com.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
\nChoicePoint Corporate Marketing<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What I do find interesting is that ChoicePoint acknowledges that it collects medical, financial, personal and driving history information on individuals for the purpose of allowingits clients to conduct background checks and pre-employment screenings, yet they don’t offer any way for the average case file subject to find out what’s on those records, pointing instead to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ChoicePoint responds! With a form letter, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}