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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=3><br><br>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060205.wdata0205/BNStory/National/home" eudora="autourl">
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060205.wdata0205/BNStory/National/home</a>
<br><br>
STEVE LAMBERT <br>
Canadian Press<br>
05/02/06 <br><br>
Lockport, Manitoba - Confidential information on hundreds of United <br>
States citizens, including social security numbers, health information
<br>
and bank account numbers, is being sent mistakenly by fax to a small
<br>
Manitoba company.<br><br>
A 60-centimetre-high stack of data, which also includes people's <br>
addresses and salaries, already sits in the offices of North Regent <br>
Rx, a herbal remedy distribution company that operates out of a house
<br>
in Lockport, 15 kilometres north of Winnipeg.<br><br>
"I know how much these people make, I know what their social
security <br>
number is, I know where they live," North Regent Rx spokesman Jody
<br>
Baxmeyer told The Canadian Press.<br><br>
"Almost everything a person needs for identity theft is actually
faxed <br>
to us on a daily basis."<br><br>
Far from using the information for any illicit purposes, Ms. Baxmeyer
<br>
says his company has been trying to stop the faxes from coming in, but
<br>
has been unable to reach an agreement with Prudential Financial, the
<br>
U.S.-based company that is the intended recipient.<br><br>
The problem started as soon as North Regent Rx began operating 15 <br>
months ago. The company's toll-free fax number is almost identical to
<br>
the number used by Prudential's insurance division, which receives <br>
faxes from doctors' offices about medical benefits given to patients
<br>
with Prudential insurance.<br><br>
Employees at many doctors' offices have dialled the wrong number, <br>
sending the information to North Regent Rx.<br><br>
The pile in Ms. Baxmeyer's office reveals data about people in many <br>
states - a Maryland woman with thyroid trouble, a Massachusetts man <br>
suffering from depression, and Kelly McDonough, 43, an Ohio woman who
<br>
has lost her sight because of diabetes.<br><br>
"That bothers me," McDonough said from her home in
Columbus.<br><br>
"I do not appreciate the fact that my social security number is in
the <br>
hands of someone I don't know. I know that there can be identity theft
<br>
with as little information as a social security number."<br><br>
McDonough said the mixup has affected her financially, because she <br>
initially didn't get reimbursed for the claim that was mistakenly <br>
faxed to North Regent Rx. After waiting for a few weeks, she assumed
<br>
Prudential might have lost the information and had her doctor's office
<br>
resend the fax, which reached the right destination on the second
try.<br><br>
Prudential says it's trying to address the situation.<br><br>
"As soon as we learned that disability forms were being misdirected
<br>
due to dialer error, Prudential Financial offered to work with North
<br>
Regent Rx to resolve the matter," the company said in a written
<br>
statement.<br><br>
"We have asked the six medical providers that we are aware of that
<br>
have misdialled to be more careful when dialing."<br><br>
Last August, Prudential vice-president Patrick O'Toole wrote to Ms. <br>
Baxmeyer to suggest that North Regent Rx send Prudential the faxes <br>
they have been receiving.<br><br>
Ms. Baxmeyer says North Regent has forwarded some faxes to Prudential,
<br>
and has often faxed messages to the clinics to tell them they have <br>
misdialled.<br><br>
But he said it's a time-consuming task for a small company. And the <br>
ongoing problem has tied up the fax line, he said, preventing North <br>
Regent customers from sending in their orders.<br><br>
"The (solution) from our point of view is pretty simple — buy our
<br>
toll-free number," Ms. Baxmeyer said.<br><br>
"It would take care of the problem right there."<br><br>
Ms. Baxmeyer said North Regent Rx has approached Prudential about <br>
selling the fax number, but the insurance firm has not yet
agreed.<br><br>
North Regent Rx would want to be compensated for the cost of changing
<br>
its toll-free number on advertising and invoices, as well as for fees
<br>
charged by the telephone company, he said.<br><br>
Prudential's written statement says the company is "eager to
continue <br>
to work with North Regent Rx to resolve the issue."<br><br>
This is not the first time personal data has been sent over the <br>
Canada-U.S. border to the wrong recipient.<br><br>
In November of 2004, The Globe and Mail and CTV reported that between
<br>
2001 and 2004, confidential information about hundreds of Canadian <br>
Imperial Bank of Commerce customers was faxed to a scrapyard in West
<br>
Virginia.<br><br>
The scrapyard's owner, Wade Peer, said the volume of faxes prevented
<br>
him from communicating with his customers and forced him to close one
<br>
of his businesses.</font></blockquote></body>
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