An Allegation of Harm

  • 21 April 2014
  • 2 replies
  • 908 views

Userlevel 7
Badge +54
In December 2013, an executive from big-three credit reporting bureau Experian told Congress that the company was not aware of any consumers who had been harmed by an incident in which a business unit of Experian sold consumer records directly to an online identity theft service for nearly 10 months. This blog post examines the harm allegedly caused to consumers by just one of the 1,300 customers of that ID theft service — an Ohio man the government claims used the data to file fraudulent tax returns on dozens of Americans last year.

In February, I was contacted via Facebook by 28-year-old Lance Ealy from Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Ealy said he needed to speak with me about the article I wrote in October 2013 — Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service. Ealy told me he’d been arrested by the U.S. Secret Service on Nov. 25, 2013 for allegedly using his email account to purchase Social Security numbers and other personal information from an online identity theft service run by guy named Hieu Minh Ngo.
 
Full Article
 
Another article following on by previous ones about Experian such as this one

2 replies

Userlevel 7
No consumers harmed?  I think Experion better think again.  This statement just shows me just how above the law they think they are....
 
Once again, not only would compensation be due to those affected, but I personally think civil penalties and possibly criminal charges should be looked into in this case.  They were not  hacked, they sold the information, so they are responsible for any ill results.
Userlevel 7
Badge +54
I agree totally David. When I posted this I looked back at previous topics about Experion and to be honest it was pretty scary, something really needs to be done about it.

Reply