Matthew Hensley reports:
Identity thieves may have stolen hundreds, perhaps thousands, of records from a former tax preparer, according to a police report.
Latina Harris said someone broke into a residence at 412 Cleveland St. in Laurinburg, and stole eight filing cabinets full of information left over from when her mother, Ester Gaino, prepared taxes.
Gaino has been dead for a year, but records going back at least five years had been kept in the home.
Read more in The Laurinburg Exchange . This is one of those rare cases when someone comes out and says that they think that the theft was specifically intended to facilitate identity theft.
If you use Ms. Gaino as your tax preparer, or are in Scotland County and surrounding areas, including Maxton and Rockingham, check to see if you ever used her services.
North Carolina does have a breach notification law that applies to paper records, but how would Ms. Harris have any idea whom to notify, even assuming that her mother’s estate had some responsibility here (and it’s not clear to me what NC law says about this situation).