Archive for January, 2010

Identity theft

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Father arrested for using dead son’s identity

It goes against the laws of nature for parents to have to bury their children. But, that’s what David Frank Pflegl had to do in 1987 as the survivor of an auto accident that killed his 19-year-old son, David Frank Pflegl II. It is probably one of the hardest most painful things for any parent to do. However, the senior Pflegl, 63, found a way to keep his son’s memory alive: he committed ID theft, forgery and communication fraud using his dead son’s identity, according to his December indictment.

Pflegl was arrested a week ago in Utah on the identity theft and related charges. Pflegl used his son’s identity to obtain a $140,000 mortgage in Lindon, Utah. He also had driver’s licenses in Oregon and Utah. Additionally, he held a passport in his deceased son’s name—a crime that resulted in a federal investigation by the State Department. Oregon investigators and the Utah Department of Public Safety participated in the identity theft investigation. (more…)

Identity theft protection

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Identity theft and tax season

It’s tax season. It’s an annual occurrence, happening at the same time of year, every year. And in observance, here’s our annual phishing, scamming and identity theft warning with tips for avoiding getting taken to the cleaners … by anyone but the IRS.

Your mailbox

  • If you don’t already have one, buy a locking mailbox before your W2 is delivered. Just think how easy it is to commit identity theft with just that one piece of stolen mail.
  • (more…)

Data breach

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Health Net data breach prompts attorney general’s “historic lawsuit”

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said last November that he was “outraged and appalled” upon learning of Health Net’s massive data breach and their keeping it hush-hush for six months. He acted on those feelings this week by filing suit against the insurer and its new owners, United Health Group and Oxford Health Plans.

The data breach occurred May 2009 when a hard drive containing the information of 1.5 million customers went missing. Records were for the period 2002 through 2009. Roughly 446,000 of the members are from Connecticut.

Blumenthal’s lawsuit asserts Health Net gave its employees inadequate supervision and training on appropriate maintenance, use and disclosure of protected health information.

The company explained the six-month lag time between their awareness of the breach and their notifying state officials by saying the time was necessary to complete a “detailed forensic review.” Kroll, a computer forensic consulting firm hired to complete the investigation determined the information wasn’t encrypted or protected in any way from access or viewing. (more…)