TV station uses Sen. KBH's private info for report on ID theft (checks)

[rainbow4321]

Senator's Name Used On Bogus Checks

http://www.nbc5i.com/money/4230456/detail.html

Check forgery software is readily available to identity thieves looking to pass bogus checks. The software shows criminals how to load a stolen name and bank data into a computer to produce forged checks.

"You just put in your information, your routing number, and it prints it for you," Mike Coffey, a private investigator, said.
NBC 5, in a controlled experiment designed to show how simple check forgery can be, "borrowed" the senator's personal information to print fraudulent checks.

"Well of course (it looks familiar), it has my name and address on it," Hutchinson said when she saw the bogus checks. The process took only minutes to complete and the outcome looked genuine. "Isn't that amazing," Hutchinson said. "It does look quite real."

"Yes, that's my Social Security number," Hutchinson said. "I really try to guard it, but that's terrible. Your Social Security number should not be available on a Web site or something so public. We have got to find a way that the technology can be used in a positive way and not negatively."

[Enquiringkitty]

1. Year or so ago my neighbor worked for one of the credit and

background checking services and she showed how she could put any SSN in and someone would pop up; credit rating, bank accounts, kind of car, types of credit cards too. She said she would have to use the supervisors code to get the records of what they had purchased in the last 30 days. Not a soul in that office had a background search done on them. She was hire through a temp service.

[rainbow4321]

2. Mortgage info/SS numbers...

are all available on the Net, if you go to the right webpages. My homestate (NJ) and it's counties have webpages where stuff is listed, you access it for free. You can pull up copies of people's mortgage papers which have a shitload of private info...everything from how much they took out, what bank/company they used, their SS numbers, their actual signatures on all the papers (pdf files). Any other papers filed or done thru the county are also on the web <arrests, bail, court cases>.
You would think there would be some sort of balance between public records being so readily available and keeping some info PRIVATE!