The fraudsters posed as legitimate companies to gain access to
ChoicePoint's massive credit database, which is normally used by
businesses such as credit reference agencies, marketing agencies
and insurance firms. They may have viewed consumers' names,
addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports, according to
the company.
ChoicePoint notified around 35,000 California residents earlier
this week, advising them that their information might have been
accessed.
While California is the only state that currently requires
businesses that have been targeted by identity thieves to notify
their customers of the breach, ChoicePoint is also warning another
110,000 consumers, based outside California, that their information
may have been viewed.
At present, according to ChoicePoint, law enforcement agencies
have identified around 750 people who have already been the victims
of identity theft as a result of the breach.
"This is a serious issue which ChoicePoint is addressing
aggressively," the company said in an alert on its web site.
According to the Los Angeles Times only one person has been
arrested in connection with the scam so far: Olatunji Oluwatosin,
41, from Hollywood.
Elsewhere, hacker Nicholas Lee Jacobsen, who broke into the US
network of mobile phone company T-Mobile and accessed details of
around 400 customers – including those of a Secret Service agent
who investigates internet identity thieves – pleaded guilty to a
hacking charge on Tuesday.
He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
