You pay enough at the pump, don’t you?  While most of the public seems to be in agreement on this point, some companies have decided that they think they can still squeeze more money out of our pockets.  Not by raising their prices any higher (yet), but by being irresponsible with the financial records that oil companies keep.  The guiltiest culprit in this investigation is Petroleum Wholesale.  Petroleum Wholesales operates convenience stores in ten states and while you might not have heard of them, if you’ve driven in Texas, you know the name Sunmart Convenience Store and Travel Center.

There are no specific details about the number of people affected by this data breach, although authorities are saying it is rather large.  It appears that the company has been disposing of people’s financial records in a very unprofessional manner – they dump the material, un-shredded, into a public dumpster on the street.  No company spokesman was available to make a comment about how long this has been the company’s operating practice.  Also, because there is no notion of how many people have been affected, experts in the field of identity theft and personal security are advising frequent customers of the Sunmart locations to invest in ID theft services.

One of the largest providers, in the United States, of such services is Lifelock.  For a small monthly fee, the company maintains connections with the three major credit bureaus in America.  Each of these companies receives certain financial information about consumers and then maintains a score and record about the individual.  Lifelock steps in by monitoring these bureaus to find out whenever a new loan is filed or an application for a new credit card is entered into the system.  Lifelock then contacts its customer to make sure that they are the person who is submitting these applications and if it is an example of identity theft, they handle the next steps of tracking down the individuals.

In the case of the Petroleum Wholesale breach, the material found in the dumpsters contains more than enough data to allow someone to steal an identity.  Financial records that include names, home addresses, social security numbers, credit card and debit card numbers, along with their expiration dates, was all readily available.  There were also forms that contained drivers’ license numbers.  Additionally, returned checks, with bank routing numbers, were also found in the debris.  Authorities have not released how they found out about the material and if the person who reported the breach has been questioned.

Charges are already pending against the company.  While details are still sketchy, authorities say that Petroleum Warehouse will face charges about its failure to live up to the regulations of the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act.  The company also failed to meet the agreements that all businesses reach over Chapter 35 of the Business and Commerce Code.  This chapter forces companies to develop and maintain secure methods for destroying secure information.  The fine associated with Chapter 35 includes a $500 fee for every financial record illegally disposed.  It looks like the Petroleum company might finally take a hit to its bottom line.

Tags: Chapter 35, Identity Theft Enforcement Act, lifelock, Sunmart

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 6:55 am and is filed under Corporate Breaches, Individuals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.