[2965] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: Can you say "fraud"?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Will Day)
Tue Sep 17 21:30:44 1996
From: Will Day <willday@rom.oit.gatech.edu>
To: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 18:30:10 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: willday@rom.oit.gatech.edu (Will Day)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.95.960917084104.21582B-100000@battlezone.rs.itd.umich.edu> from Mary Irene Wise at "Sep 17, 96 08:44:39 am"
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
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A short time ago, at a computer terminal far, far away, Mary Irene Wise wrote:
>Can anybody comment on the item forwarded below my sig file? It claims
>there's a database w/ people's credit card no's etc on it and you have to
>give your name and social security number to get off of it. This strikes
>me as being a scam to get your ssn, but this went around at work and
>people are actually calling and giving it out. I know ssn's aren't really
>as secure as they're supposed to be, but still...
>
>So, does anybody know if this database is for real or if it's just a scam?
>>
>> Your name, social security number, current address, previous addresses,
>> mother's maiden name, birth date and other personal information
>> are now available to anyone with a credit card through a new Lexis database
>> called P-Trax. As I am sure you are aware, this information
>> could be used to commit credit card fraud or otherwise allow someone else to
>> use your identity.
The P-Trax database from Lexis-Nexis has been reported in numerous
privacy-concerned newsgroups and discussion lists, including PRIVACY
Forum Digest:
http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.05.12.Z
http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.05.14.Z
http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.05.17.Z
RISKS Forum (comp.risks):
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/18.43.html#subj5
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/18.44.html#subj5
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/18.45.html#subj15
Cypherpunks:
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/cypherpunks/Home.html
the Electronis Privacy Information Center (EPIC):
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_3.12.txt
as well as reported in C|Net:
"Research service raises privacy fears"
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,1527,00.html
"Service pulls Social Security numbers"
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,1539,00.html
Lexis-Nexis is a known maintainer of large databases of this type, as
well as many others. See their web page at:
http://www.lexis-nexis.com/
===
Will Day <PGP mail preferred> * * * * * * * * * * *
willday@rom.oit.gatech.edu HARRY BROWNE FOR PRESIDENT
http://rom.oit.gatech.edu/~willday/ http://www.HarryBrowne96.org/
OIT, Georgia Tech, Atlanta 30332-0715 * * * * * * * * * * *
=-> Opinions expressed are mine alone and do not reflect OIT policy <-=
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