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Your credit information could be in the hands of a crook right
now. Hundreds of thousands of people nationwide may be victims of
identity fraud. A company called Choicepoint mistakenly released
personal information. Now the Georgia company is in the process
of alerting customers of what could be a very costly mistake. The
data collection company, Choicepoint, now admits even more of its
customers than first thought may be victims of what could turn out
to be the biggest privacy breach ever. Choicepoint, based near Atlanta,
gathers sensitive information, including addresses and social security
numbers on almost everyone in the United States and sells it to
clients. As many as 50 fake companies apparently tricked Choicepoint,
gaining access to the massive databases by presenting false documents
and pretending to be legitimate."They had all of the documentation.
They had all of the things, answered all the right questions the
right way to make them look like they were legitimate," said
James Lee. Choicepoint identified and sent warnings to 35,000 California
residents whose records were illegally accessed, but later said
the number of potential victims is much larger.
Identify Fraud expert Bob Sullivan warns that consumers have
little defense."There's nothing you can do other than sit and
wait for the bad news," said Sullivan. But consumers should
check all credit card bills, request copies of credit reports and
be wary of any bill that does not appear to be legitimate. A few
identity theft red flags to look out for include: Phone calls or
letters saying you've been approved for credit for which you've
never even applied and if mail -- especially credit card statements
-- stop arriving, you'd better investigate
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