Thanks to Luke Mullins of U.S. News and World report for letting us know about a little slip over at Lending Tree.com. From a letter issued by Lending Tree:
April 21, 2008
Dear LendingTree Customer:
We want you to know that some loan request forms our customers sent to LendingTree may have been seen by lenders without our consent. These lenders then used the forms to market their own mortgage loans to our customers. While we don’t believe that the forms were used for any other purpose, we want you to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation, as well as what you can do to monitor your credit records.
What Happened and What We Did
Recently, LendingTree learned that several former employees may have helped a handful of mortgage lenders gain access to LendingTree’s customer information by sharing confidential passwords with the lenders. When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation. We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved.
Based on our investigation, we understand that these mortgage lenders used the passwords to access LendingTree’s customer loan request forms, normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers. The loan request forms contained data such as name, address, email address, telephone number, Social Security number, income and employment information. We believe these lenders accessed LendingTree’s loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008.
With all the lenders going under- all the files lost, or in the hands of folks who don’t care, I feel obligated to ask a question John and I have been asking since last January:
Just how safe is the personal data of borrowers, and will we only know after something major has happened?
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Nothing is safe anymore…I know firsthand what it is like to find out you have an apartment you didn’t rent, a car you didn’t know you had, etc…ID Theft is the fastest growing crime and it happens more often than you can possibly imagine. Scary huh? Lending Tree’s employee’s who participated in sharing that information outside of Lending Tree’s scope of business in my opinion, should be brought up on criminal charges and imprisoned. Until ID theft happens to you, you will NEVER really understand the true depth of how it changes your life.
My brother-in-law’s ID was stolen almost 15 years ago at college. They think it was from one of those rampant ‘free t-shirt’ credit card offers.
The simple truth is that your ID is about as safe as the rest of your possesions. Which is to say it ain’t safe. Any crook with enough persistance can steal your ID, no matter how careful you are. It’s sorta like your car. Doesn’t matter how good the security system is…if someone wants it bad enough, it’s gone. That’s why you have insurance for your car. Do the same for your ID. Check your credit report often, but let someone else take care of the hassle WHEN your ID gets stolen.
Funny you should mention this topic, Twist. Here’s why:
I just went over to my credit union. Among other things, I made four photocopies using the machine in the lobby. It’s in an island next to the velvet rope corral, and it’s not blocked off in any way. Nor is it marked with a “Keep Out” sign.
Well, to hear it from the employee who came over and chastised me for using the copier, you’d think I’d just ripped off the combination to the locks at Fort Knox. I was told that I wasn’t allowed to use the copier, and that I’d have to ask a staff member to make copies for me.
I calmly replied that if the credit union didn’t want members using the copier, then the copier should be roped off from the rest of the lobby. And that there should be a sign saying that the copier was for staff use only.
The employee didn’t have a good comeback, other than to say that the copier area had documents that members weren’t supposed to see. Well, I wonder, if the security of member info is so important, than why can anyone just walk into the copier area and see it?
AZ Slim,
Just a note that it is sometimes folly to use a public copier, what you copy is made into images that can be dug out later. Copiers these days are like PCs with scanners.
“When banks compete, they steal your personal information”
You guys have no freaking idea how severe and pervasive this problem is.
Even the police do not bother to verify real identity anymore – I’ve had someone get repeated tickets claiming to be me with no ID presented and had the cops just issue the tickets on the person’s word (thank you LAPD!), get in an accident where the police were called, and even get arrested – yes, that’s right, fingerprinted and photographed under my name and SSN – pretending to be me.
And the person had been arrested many times before, even in that same station, such that if they had checked the prints or photo it would have come up in two seconds.
And most recently, when I wanted him prosecuted for ID theft, and spent hours, nay, days, chasing the police officers and DAs to make it happen (without which they would have completely ignored it), they said nope, the most we’ll ask for is misdemeanor impersonation. He pled guilty and did not serve a single day.
When I went to the social security administration to ask about getting a new number, they told me they’d give me one only after the guy was convicted, but that the credit agencies would not transfer my files, so my credit file would now be empty and my score would drop from 750+ to 500 or less. Way to help a victim out!
The California DMV told me they would absolutely not issue a new driver’s license number, even with hard proof (e.g., a conviction and a sworn officer statement) that my number was being used repeatedly by a known impersonator.
If you’re wondering how hard it is to commit identity theft, the answer is “trivial,” and if you’re wondering whether the authorities will do anything at all to stop it or to help you, the answer is “absolutely nothing.”
Igor’s word: disaster
Oh, and I forgot an additional, unrelated and also horrifying story. I went to BofA to make a deposit, and apparently, they have a system where the tellers get paid a bonus to get you to sign up for a credit card, and do not require so much as your signature to make it happen, even when you’re standing there. So what happened? A $10/hr teller applied for a credit card for me, without my consent, and had one issued.
When I complained, they refused to confirm the person had been fired, and the person I spoke to in their ID theft and fraud dept. admitted that this is a known and widespread problem at BofA. Later, I found out the same thing had happened to a friend of mine at another BofA branch – two years earlier! Think the government has any interest at all in stopping it? Think the bank does? Call and ask and see how much help you get. I did.
Jim,
It sounds like you have a good case for a lawsuit (both for LAPD and B of A).
Jim-
My 24 year old son has had problems, because apparently someone with the same name was convicted on three drug trafficking charges seven years ago- but a background check ties this crimes with his SSN.
It wasn’t a case of theft, but in this world of massive data bases, it is getting harder and harder to prove that you are you- and that someone else isn’t.
And I’ve sued Experian for reporting the ID Theft Items because they are the only credit bureau to refuse to remove the fraudulently obtained items. ID Theft sucks…and the credit bureau’s don’t care, maybe they’re selling our info, who knows!