Paper Shredding News

America’s 10 Worst States for Fraud (Florida was #1 for 2011) When times are hard, fraud often gets worse. Americans are under great financial pressure, and there is no shortage of criminals waiting to take advantage of it. According to the most recent report published by the Federal Trade Commission, there were more than 1.8…

IRS fails tax fraud victims, new report finds Identity theft victims trying to get their tax refunds must navigate a Byzantine system of unreturned phone calls, conflicting regulations and unskilled Internal Revenue Service employees who give them incorrect information. That’s the grim synopsis of a watchdog report issued Tuesday in Washington that said the process…

Bay area ID leaks cost jobs, leave victims and businesses in the lurch Gary Deavers’ remodeling project was put on hold after someone fraudulently filed for a tax refund in his name. Later he learned from police that his credit application with Ashley Furniture was found in the car of a convict. Gary Deavers’ remodeling…

Personal info found in recycling bin A woman’s hunt for coupons in a local dumpster turns up thousands of sensitive documents, exposing the personal information of hundreds of people. Confidential material a thief could use to steal your identity sitting at the bottom of a dumpster. Lynda contacted ABC15 after first finding the private medical…

Montgomery County, N.C. – Hundreds of documents filled with peoples’ social security numbers and dates of birth somehow ended up in trash bags on the side of the road in Montgomery County.   The documents came from a drug-testing company called Professional Medical Resources, Inc. News 2 called the company Thursday, but no one returned…

NYPD Place confidential documents in trash Bronx cops disposed of dozens of sensitive files by tossing them in the garbage outside the 40th Precinct station house, where they were fair game for local Dumpster divers. The files — including at least one domestic-violence report, stolen property records, criminal complaints and mug shots — were found…

Florida Ranks Third for Identity Theft The State Attorney’s Office says the latest statistics show Florida moving up on the list of states with high rates of identity theft. “The latest statistics show the year before last Florida was number five in incidents of identity theft. We have unfortunately moved up to number three,” says…

Man charged with identity theft at Huntsville Wal-Mart A Florida man was arrested last week and charged with identity theft after being spotted acting suspiciously at the Huntsville Wal-Mart. Fernando Martinez, 32, a Cuban national with a current address in Florida, caught the eye of Wal-Mart loss prevention officers on April 16 at approximately 4:15…

Wyndham Hotel guests at risk for identity theft A data breach at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts may have put up to 21,000 Florida residents in jeopardy of identity theft, Bill McCollum, Florida’s attorney general, said in a statement. Wyndham reported the data breach to the AG last December and told the office it had contacted…

9.9 million Americans fell victim to identity theft in 2008, survey finds More Americans are becoming victims of identity theft, but fraud detection and resolution skills are improving, which has helped to limit losses, a new study has found. In 2008, the number of identity theft victims in the United States rose 22 percent to…