FTC Looking for More ChoicePoint Data Breach Victims

The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday it has mailed some 2,400 additional reimbursement claim forms to consumers it believes may have been the victims of identity theft stemming from a data breach at ChoicePoint in 2005.  The FTC did not give details of how the additional 2,400 consumers were identified.

ChoicePoint is a major compiler and provider of consumer information with more than 5,500 employees in 60 offices around the U.S.  The firm’s database was used extensively in the ARM industry as a skip-tracing and location tool.

In February 2005, ChoicePoint announced it had sold information to identity thieves that had posed as legitimate businesspeople. An FTC investigation found that some of these sales resulted in identity theft. ChoicePoint agreed in January 2006 to pay $5 million to reimburse expenses incurred by those consumers hit by identity theft, along with a $10 million civil penalty.

Eariler this month, ChoicePoint also reached settlements with 43 states and the District of Columbia over the data breach.