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Posted: February 2005
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3100 - 5th Ave., Suite B |
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| Cases from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Hotline:
Five Year Old Son Receiving Junk Mail and Credit Card Applications: I don't know if you can help me, but my son, who is just turning 5 years old has been getting junk mail and just now started to get credit card applications. The last one was sent from Chase Bank. I contacted them, and they basically had nothing to say. Nobody was willing to help me. I am really concerned that maybe someone is using his name or worse his Social Security number. Wal-Mart Sent Credit Card Because She Didn't Respond to Notice Telling Them Not To: Inaccurate Information Reported by ChoicePoint, Compromises Job Offer: I was recently denied employment. There was incorrect information on the background check regarding my previous employer. My previous employer had fired me one day before I received my new offer and then reported incorrect information to the CRA. Information also showed up regarding a ticket I received for being at a party where alcohol was present 10 years ago. It was a minor violation and not considered a criminal conviction. I contacted an attorney and we were finally able to get Choicepoint to correct the inaccurate information. They had made 3 mistakes on my report. One, they reported a criminal conviction that didn't happen (and they reported that it happened in 1995 which is almost 10 years ago) and they also put inaccurate information regarding my previous employment. With help from my lawyer and my previous employer, all of the inaccurate information was removed and/or corrected but the potential employer has not re-newed their offer to me and I find myself in a very difficult situation over information that was reported unlawfully. I am at a loss as to how the 30 year-old Misdemeanor Continues to be Reported as a Felony with ChoicePoint: ChoicePoint got obviously incorrect information on me from the Texas Department of Public Safety and embellished on it. They turned a simple 30 year old misdemeanor into a felony conviction with me having served 7 years which made me look like a paroled convict. I was convicted of a misdemeanor 30 years ago. Home Depot did a background check and ChoicePoint, Inc. told them I had a felony I had served seven years for. They bought that info from the Texas Department of Public Safety. They didn't even have my name correct. They were giving out what I was charged with not what I was convicted of. Lowe's did an earlier check and would not hire me either.Since 9/11 everyone is doing background checks. No telling how many jobs these people have cost me. In 2000 I was a quality Assurance/Quality Control inspector responsible for over a $40 million dollar project in the Electrical Engineering Department at a local chemical plant! Now I'm not fit to sell wire nuts to the public at Home Depot! I have proudly served my country and have two Honorable Discharges and a service citation. I have been the leader of a civic group in my home town for four years but Lowe's won't let me sell light bulbs to the public. I've been unemployed for 9 months! Genealogy Site Posts Personal Info. of those Still Living: My father-in-law gave family information to another relative at a family reunion. This other person (he won't tell me who) has put this personal information of living persons on one of the genealogoy websites; genealogy freepages of rootsweb. It is ok to have genealogy webs of dead persons, but living persons in my view is another matter. There is even information on children including our teenage son. Maiden names, birth dates, siblings, all kinds of information are on the site. I e-mailed the person asking to remove our personal, but it is still out there. I don't even know this person. Our personal information is none of their business and putting it out on the internet is offensive and violates our privacy. School Posting Photos of Students Online: Recently, our child's photo was posted on a schools web site, along with the entire student body. Photos where broken down by grade and teacher and listed the children's itineraries. After learning of this I asked the school in writing to remove my child's photo from the Internet and provide me with a copy of the policy given them the right to do so without my permission. As a result, I was given a list of "Directory Information" which states that this information is considered non-treating to release to the General Public. Also, I was told if I denied access to any part of her directory information, I was opting out on the entire list. Moreover, I was going to be excluding her and denying her the chance to participate in school activities. Such as, her first name being included on the Valentines list, for the class room, to receive treats and cards with the other children. I was also informed that she could not be selected as student of the week/month in the classroom. ChoicePoint Sends Wrong Report, SSN not Truncated as Requested: I ordered my free C.L.U.E. Auto report from ChoicePoint's website in December, after FACTA took effect. I specified in my order that I wanted my Social Security Number hidden. My report didn't arrive after six weeks, so I wrote to them and they said they would send the report to me. I actually received two reports. One was mine and the other appears to be for someone else in my apartment building. Both reports have all the SSN displayed in their entirety. I have a lot of sensitive, personal information about a stranger that lives near me. Data Broker, USSearch.com Used by Stalker: I recently found that a woman I do not know has been stalking me for over 2 years. She admitted to the police that she has been paying a website called USSEARCH for info about where I live and anything else she can about me and my personal history. This past December, she actually came to my home and attempted to enter my apartment. I want to move again but I do not want her to have access to my new address. How can get my records sealed to protect myself? I contacted the USSEARCH website and had my info removed, but they informed me that there are "hundreds" of sites like theirs, all with the same info for sale. They told me that they do not ever run any kind of background check on the person who is requesting the info, which seems like it would be a good idea. The person who is stalking me has a history of harassment and drug busts and an extensive rap sheet. Ordering Medication from Online Pharmacy Lead to Identity Theft This was the medication that I had ordered. Not only did it come from India, it wasn't in a pill bottle but in sandwich bag, and it had a terrible odor kind of like motor oil. Not only did they take my initial payment but they committed identity thief. Six months later they took my credit card number and charged me for over $500 for a "phone card." I called my credit card company, and they gave me the number to call about the charges. When I made this call I was horrified, not only was this a call center in India, but they refused to give me the name of the person who "ordered it" or the name of the "company" they had ALL of my information. Privacy rights are so important, I think in general we are to trusting when it comes to any Internet transaction. Victim of Identity Theft Being Hounded for Back Taxes, Under Suspicion of U.S. Customs Dept.: Identity Theft Victim's House has Loans Against It, Rented out to Tenants: I have been away from the United States since the past 4 years. Recently, I wanted to sell my house in California and contacted several real estate agents to discuss with them a listing for the house. I was informed by these realtors that my house has been rented to individuals that I am not aware or have agreed to rent my house. Some one is collecting the rent amounts on my house, further more I have also found out that upon checking with our county records a certain individual has used my name and arranged to fake my signature , made a power of attorney in my name and received loans on my property, bought a business in my name and has accumulated a huge amount of financial burden on my name. Local and Cell Phone Accounts Opened Even When Notified about Possible Fraud: I wrote to SPRINT PCS and to SBC both of whom opened fraudulent accounts despite my specific instructions not to open anything inasmuch as it was not me making an inquiry (as noted on my credit report). Credit Union Misinforms Customer, Decides to Not Restore Funds to his Bank Account: A customer of a VA credit union was robbed, and his check book was stolen. The customer informed his bank the following day. The bank, rather than canceling his account and opening a new one, gave him bad advice and told him to simply put a stop payment on the checks that were stolen. However, the problem with stop payments is that they are only temporary, for six months. The thief held on to the checks and once the stop payment was lifted, used them to purchase $7,000 in goods. Because the bank had not closed out the account previously, the crime victims bank account was debited the $7,000. You would think the credit union would restore the funds to his account. But not in this case. The credit union insists that their customer be forced to pay for their bad advice. He is currently taking them to court, an extreme measure decided on only as a last resort after other attempts to get his money back have been exhausted. Being Hasseled by Collectors for Student Loan Opened by Identity Thief: A student loan for college was taken out with my Social Security number 20 yrs ago (1983?). I was 16 an in high school when my purse was stolen. There was no police report as I had no idea thn the impact this would have. This has been an going battle with all of the vendors that take this "account" and then resell it and it's relisted once again. In December the collection company said they will attach my wages if I don't pay this account. The balance they say I owe is over $6,000 now. I have tried to get this taken care of and told them that I've been a victim of fraud and they told me I was lying! Lost Wallet Leads to Long Term Problems: I moved back to the U.S in 1998. I was 18 at the time and ready to be on my own as an adult. I moved to MD and found employment at a local food processing plant in DE. In the time I worked there, I lost my wallet which contained my Social Security card and my birth certificate at my new job. I didn't think about it. I just figured I lost my wallet. I could get my stuff back, and I didn't report it at the time I was 18 and i didnt even know what was identity theft. About 3 to 4 months later I moved to MA because that was where i had spent some of my life. Then in 1999 I start receiving letters and telephone calls from all kinds of bill collectors and the I.R.S saying that I owed thousands upon thousands of dollars. I was in shock and didn't know what to do. I called these people back and in our converstations they told me I had financed a vehicle, I had unpaid utilities, credit cards and other stuff. I did get some of that cleared away and even tried to change my Social Security number but was denied to. Now in 2005 I filed my tax returns and for my refund I got back zero when I was supposed to get a refund and the goverment withheld my check to pay off a debt from 2002. According to the IRS, I had unreported Income for that year and I was working for companies all over that I have never heard of before and has taken my refund because I owe $9000.00 I have had this issue with them before and was able to get everything straightened out but then this year they have taken my refund and now I do not know what to do?? Is there anyone that can help me with this?? It's been a long 6 years of this and all I want to do is get this done and over with. Ordering Medication from Online Pharmacy Lead to Identity Theft This was the medication that I had ordered. Not only did it come from India, it wasn't in a pill bottle but in sandwich bag, and it had a terrible odor kind of like motor oil. Not only did they take my initial payment but they committed identity thief. Six months later they took my credit card number and charged me for over $500 for a "phone card." I called my credit card company, and they gave me the number to call about the charges. When I made this call I was horrified, not only was this a call center in India, but they refused to give me the name of the person who "ordered it" or the name of the "company" they had ALL of my information. Privacy rights are so important, I think in general we are to trusting when it comes to any Internet transaction. Healthcare Provider Shared His Contact Information with a Pharmaceutical Company:
On approximately 2/15/05, I received a phone call at work from Healthcore in Wilmington DE asking for me by name. They were offering a free cholestrol screening to me. I asked many questions, and I was told calling parameters were: 1) good health; 2) men over 55; or 3) women over 65. This was a research study by Astrazenica, and they recieved my name from "the patient list at Blue Cross" ( this is my health insurance company). MERCHANT INFORMATION GATHERING Surveillance Camera in Locker Room: Approximately 1 year ago, I went to a hospital facility to swim. When I was in the locker room getting ready to change clothes, I was suddenly approached by 'hospital security' who stated that they had recently had a rash of thefts from lockers. I realized at that time that I was 'being profiled' as the individual responsible and was accused and arrested of the thefts, after being interrogated by the local police and hospital security. What really disturbs me is that one of the hospital security officers told me "You see this locker? We've placed a hidden wireless camera in it." I know that in a locker room, where a person undresses that an individual should have a reasonalbe expectation of privacy, and not be photographed or videotaped. I also overheard security discussing where they had purchased the video surveillance equipment. These officers were bragging and laughing about how they had caught a "criminal" using video photography inside of a locker room. Extorted by Co-Worker for Information Contained in Personnel File: My employer didn't keep my private information locked up and a co-worker was allowed to access my file. This person then attempted to blackmale me based on information in my file. My employer did nothing about it, and then terminated my employment. The co-worker involved is still working there. |
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