[Dataloss] NC Firms Paying $65K For Trashing Consumer Info

[Dissent]

http://www.raleighchronicle.com/2007021916.html

RALEIGH -  Three North Carolina firms are finding out the hard way 
about a new state law that fines companies that put their customers' 
information at risk for identity theft.

According to the NC Attorney General Roy Cooper's office, three 
Charlotte businesses are going to have to pay a total of $65,500 in 
fines for throwing in dumpsters, paper copies of information that 
contained customers' Social Security numbers or bank account 
information or both.  Details of each of the violations appear below.

[...]

According to the Attorney General's office, listed below are the 
three firms that were fined, the circumstances surrounding the 
dumping of customer records, and the settlements details reached with 
each company:

Movie Gallery operated a video rental store at 3001 Union Road in 
Gastonia. Around September 25, 2006, the owner of a neighboring 
business reported seeing a large number of Movie Gallery's files and 
videos in the dumpster. According to the settlement, the files 
contained personal information of people employed by Movie Gallery 
and people applying for jobs at the video store as well as people 
applying for movie rental membership. Movie Gallery has agreed to pay 
$50,000 to the state.

Empire Equity Group operated a mortgage lending office at 2400 
Crownpoint Executive Drive in Charlotte beginning in September 2002. 
Jonathan Lee Bailey served as manager and had previously operated 
offices for other mortgage companies in the area. According to the 
settlement with Cooper's office, around October 28, 2006 Bailey threw 
mortgage files that included personal financial details about people 
who applied for mortgage loans in the dumpster. Empire Equity and 
Bailey will pay the state $12,500.

Stephen and Terri Newsome operated Home Finance Mortgage, Inc. at 
20723 Torrence Chapel Road, Suite 204 in Cornelius until sometime in 
2005 or 2006. According to the settlement, in November 2006 the 
company dumped files containing names, addresses, Social Security 
numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers of people who 
had applied for mortgage loans. An investigator from the NC Office of 
the Commissioner of Banks helped Cooper's office with the 
investigation. Home Finance and its owners have agreed to pay the 
state $3,000 for their violations.

--
Main site: http://www.pogowasright.org
Main RSS feed: http://www.pogowasright.org/backend/pogowasright.rss
Breaches RSS feed: http://www.pogowasright.org/backend/breaches.rss