AMERIQUEST FILES FOUND IN DUMPSTER
According to ABC news, "police in Atlanta Georgia are investigating how the personal files of 1,200 Ameriquest Mortgage customers" turned up in a dumpster at an apartment complex.
"Police say the 40 boxes of records contain sensitive financial information, including customers' credit histories, bank account information, tax and salary records and social security numbers."
The boxes appeared last month, but oddly, the three Ameriquest offices in the Atlanta area closed in 2005.
Police say the files involved mortgage customers from a number of different states, including Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.
Authorities plan to alert customers identified from the documents so that they can check their records to confirm they were not fraud victims.
An Ameriquest representative has reviewed some of the documents, and spokesman Chris Orlando says the company believes they were stolen from Ameriquest in late 2002.
According to Orlando, "We take the security of our records very seriously...and have been working to locate the person or persons responsible for the theft. We are pleased that the files have now been secured by authorities in DeKalb County, and we are working with local law enforcement to determine what information is contained in the files and who stole them."
It would be interesting to see if Ameriquest filed a police report for stolen files back in 2002.
Deputy Chief Burrows says so far his department has uncovered no evidence that the files were stolen from Ameriquest.
Deputy Chief Mike Burrows of the DeKalb County Police Department told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the documents would have been a treasure trove to identity theft criminals."
According to Burrows, "If anyone finds it, they can delve into the files and assume people's identity and obviously open credit accounts and obtain loans on vehicles, mortgages -- the general financial identity fraud situation that the whole country's facing."
"Police say the 40 boxes of records contain sensitive financial information, including customers' credit histories, bank account information, tax and salary records and social security numbers."
The boxes appeared last month, but oddly, the three Ameriquest offices in the Atlanta area closed in 2005.
Police say the files involved mortgage customers from a number of different states, including Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.
Authorities plan to alert customers identified from the documents so that they can check their records to confirm they were not fraud victims.
An Ameriquest representative has reviewed some of the documents, and spokesman Chris Orlando says the company believes they were stolen from Ameriquest in late 2002.
According to Orlando, "We take the security of our records very seriously...and have been working to locate the person or persons responsible for the theft. We are pleased that the files have now been secured by authorities in DeKalb County, and we are working with local law enforcement to determine what information is contained in the files and who stole them."
It would be interesting to see if Ameriquest filed a police report for stolen files back in 2002.
Deputy Chief Burrows says so far his department has uncovered no evidence that the files were stolen from Ameriquest.
Deputy Chief Mike Burrows of the DeKalb County Police Department told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the documents would have been a treasure trove to identity theft criminals."
According to Burrows, "If anyone finds it, they can delve into the files and assume people's identity and obviously open credit accounts and obtain loans on vehicles, mortgages -- the general financial identity fraud situation that the whole country's facing."
posted by - at 11:49 AM
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