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FTC: Catching Information Brokers
They are the new bad guys of the information world. Information brokers are professional information thieves who obtain (steal) information about consumers under a pretext that appears legitimate and then sell the information to an eager and willing purchaser. Financial institutions are frequent targets of such information thieves and work hard to put procedures and training into place to prevent such thefts.
The Federal Trade Commission is now appearing as the White Knight bringing enforcement actions involving pretext thefts. Using the identity theft equivalent of mystery shoppers, the FTC selected targets who offered to obtain or sell such information. Posing as a purchaser, the mystery shoppers requested information that had been placed in target locations, including financial institutions. When the information was produced, the pretexters were caught. Each of the pretexters was fined and required to give up their "ill gotten gains."
Copyright © 2002 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 7, No. 6, 5/02
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