Monkey Wards cover up and Kentucky Attorney General has ID Theft problems

Today we have 2 stories involving ID Theft. The first is about a cover up of a data breach by Monkey Wards (that's what I called them as a child) and the second is about an Attorney General who was a victim of ID Theft.

Report: Montgomery Ward fails to alert victims of breach
by Chuck Miller

Mongomery Ward, an old-line merchant now operating as an internet retailer, suffered a breach of some 51,000 customer credit card numbers, and failed to report it to customers, according to reports.

The furniture retailer, which was once a fixture in towns across America, went belly-up in 2001, but came back, lives on as an internet storefront under the name Wards.com, owned by Direct Marketing Services.

Hackers in December extracted the stolen information from an online database that held credit card account information, according to an Associated Press report. Direct Marketing Services notified the major credit card brands of the incident but failed to alert customers.

....Companies that do not notify their affected customers can be sued, though the exact legal measures vary state by state. ..

...This is just the latest in a continuing string of data breaches involving lost consumer information. Why is this criminal activity cropping up more often?....(Full text at SC Magazine)

The following is an interesting read because the Kentucky Attorney General had just created a new Cyber Crimes Unit and his ID Theft is one of their first cases.

State attorney general becomes identity theft victim
By Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT — One of the first cases Attorney General Jack Conway’s new cybercrimes unit will investigate involves Conway himself.

The state’s chief law enforcement official is a victim of America’s fastest growing crime — identity theft.

“It makes you mad. It makes you feel incredibly vulnerable,” said Conway, who said his case is not getting any special attention from his investigators because of his position.

...Conway said he noticed the theft on a Saturday night in late May at his Louisville home when he tried to use his American Express credit card...

...He later discovered that someone had taken his credit card number and charged a few thousand dollars worth of computers,...(Full Text at Kentucky.com)

Just goes to prove that nobody is safe from ID Theft.

To learn more about Identity Theft and what to do if you are a victim, visit www.StopIdTheftCrime.com and subscribe to the newsletter to obtain your free 46 page eBook "Fighting Back Against Identity Theft".

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