Insurance Files Found in Dumpster
It looks like insurance companies also fail to rank high when it comes to security. While one would expect any data provided to such a company to remain private, it so happens that in Richardson insurance files may as well be found in the dumpster.
That was the case of an incident taking place a little while ago when hundreds of such files containing names, social security numbers and policy numbers were found in a Richardson dumpster. As WFAA.com who covered the story notes, it was quite a treasure waiting to be discovered by identity thieves.
Who found the files? Two men, one looking for boxes to move and another one driving by, who saw the first one taking pictures of the dumpster in question.
The files were dumped here by a company called Texas Insurance Claims Services which processes people’s claims.
We asked the owner why he threw them away. He wouldn’t go on camera but said he was only required to keep the files five years and could then toss them.
The company says it sometimes uses commercial shredding services but decided not to do so this time. Authorities say it’s not unusual for criminals to dumpster dive to look for ways to get personnel information that they can use to illegally run up huge bills.
