The FBI is investigating a hacker attack against credit reporting agency
Experian and Ford Credit that resulted in the theft of personal information
about 13,000 consumers in affluent areas around the country.
Ford Motor Credit, the financing arm of
the car company, sent certified letters to all of the consumers involved
cautioning them to be on the alert for signs of identity theft.
The hackers accessed an Experian database and downloaded the
information, which included Social Security numbers, addresses, account
numbers, creditor names and payment history — everything needed to commit
credit fraud.
“There was fraud perpetrated on these consumers, on Experian and on Ford
Credit,” Richard Van Leeuwen, Ford Credit executive vice president, was
quoted as telling the Detroit News.
Ford apparently was contacted by Experian in February after the agency
received numerous calls about unauthorized credit checks, which appeared as
though they were made by Ford Credit’s Grand Rapids, Mich., office.
FBI special agent Dawn Clenney told the Associated Press that the matter is
under investigation but declined to give details.
Ford Credit said in a letter to the victims that the hackers used an
authorization code from Ford Credit to get the credit reports from Experian,
one of the top three major reporting agencies.
Ford Credit spokesman Dan Jarvis told InternetNews.com that it was the
Experian credit reporting system that was hacked. “We don’t have a system in
which we keep people’s credit reports,” he said.
Only about 400 Ford Credit customers had data stolen, but the company decided
to alert all of the victims by certified mail, Jarvis said. Once into the
system, the thieves took data on residents of more affluent areas around the
country.
How did it happen? “There are theories, but we’re waiting for the FBI to tell
us,” Jarvis said. “They left a footprint that said Ford Credit was there …
we made a decision that these folks should know.”
“This is not just a credit card number; this is the whole kazoo,” Richard
Power, the editorial director for the Computer Security Institute, an
industry trade group, told the New York Times. “A criminal could use the data
to make credit card charges or even open bank and credit card accounts in the
victim’s name.”
Experian, which had no immediate comment, is a subsidiary of GUS plc and has
headquarters in Nottingham, UK, and Costa Mesa, Calif.