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IL: Social Security numbers found lying in street

Posted on January 30, 2010 by Dissent

Lisa Black and John Keilman report:

When Elida Cruz worked in the banking industry, she assured clients that their personal information would remain confidential.

So, imagine her horror when she learned that much of her own information, including her Social Security number, birth date, phone number and job history, had become astonishingly public, floating down a Des Plaines street in a cloud of half-shredded paperwork.

Hundreds of sensitive, intact documents — including W-2 forms, investment account balances and job applications — were inexplicably swirling around Touhy Avenue and Eastview Drive on Thursday afternoon.

[…]

Many companies contract with vendors to destroy their paperwork. That is the case with MedHQ, a Westchester firm that provides business services to healthcare providers. Some of its employees’ 2009 W-2 forms were found in Des Plaines.

[…]

David Collins, owner of Lindy Manufacturing, a metal stamping company in Downers Grove, said his business does all of its shredding in-house. He also had no clue how employees’ 401(k) statements from several years ago could have escaped.

Read more in The Chicago Tribune.

Photo credit: Stacey Wescott, Chicago Tribune

Category: Business SectorExposureOf NotePaperSubcontractorU.S.

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