Checkpoint targeted before

[GettysbergII]

ChoicePoint Was Targeted Before
Associated Press

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,66767,00.html

09:36 AM Mar. 02, 2005 PT

Two Nigerian-born siblings were arrested in 2002 on charges of tapping into ChoicePoint's vast database of personal information, a security breach similar to one announced by the data warehouser last month, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. A company spokesman said he did not know if the problem was made public.

Bibiana Benson, 39, and her brother, Adedayo Benson, 38, gained access to at least 7,000 people and used their identities to buy at least $1 million in merchandise, the Times said, citing court documents.

According to the Times, Bibiana Benson pleaded guilty to opening ChoicePoint accounts in 2000 by using a real estate broker's license and driver's license for identification. Both licenses were fake, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause.

Prosecutors said Bibiana Benson obtained personal information, including Social Security numbers and addresses, and sold the data mainly to Nigerian immigrants for $40 to $50 per name.

She pleaded guilty in September 2002 to one felony count of unlawful use of identification and was sentenced to 54 months in prison. She is appealing the sentence.

Adedayo Benson pleaded guilty in November to three felony counts in connection to the use and attempted use of fake credit cards. He was scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

ChoicePoint spokesman Chuck Jones said Wednesday he couldn't comment on whether the company disclosed the 2002 breach to the affected customers because he was not with ChoicePoint at that time. The company's website showed no news releases in 2002 on the matter.

Jones said the company, based outside Atlanta, was preparing a statement to issue later Wednesday.

Last month, another Nigerian man pleaded no contest to creating a bogus business account with ChoicePoint and obtaining information from at least 145,000 records. Olatunji Oluwatosin, 41, was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Prosecutors said he was arrested in October with five cell phones and three credit cards that belonged to other people.

Authorities said it's unclear whether the cases are connected.

[babylonsister]

1. Baloney. It IS the second time according

to news sources I've heard-on ABC nightly this evening for one. I'm grateful I have no accounts w/Checkpoint. I know people who went through getting their identity 'stolen'; it a pain in the butt and so intrusive!

[bitchkitty]

2. Checkpoint? n/t