Potential ID Theft Victims Eye Information

By RACHEL KONRAD


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Warren Lambert thought it was just another piece of junk mail until he read the letter more closely and learned that con artists may have obtained his Social Security number, name and address - just what they need to steal his identity and ruin his credit.

Lambert is one of nearly 145,000 Americans rendered vulnerable by a breach of the computer databases of ChoicePoint Inc., a leading trafficker in a growing pool of information about who we are, what we own, what we owe and even where we go.


CHOICEPOINT INC


NYS:CPS
Updated: 2005/02/24 ET
41.00 -0.22


The Georgia-based company began mailing the warning letters after acknowledging this month that thieves opened more than 50 ChoicePoint accounts by posing as legitimate businesses.

Lambert, a retired banker in San Francisco, now spends several hours a day phoning customer service agents, poring over credit card statements, ordering credit reports and checking bank accounts.

He worries that thieves will eventually do to him what sheriffs detectives in Los Angeles say they've done to more than 700 other people - reroute his mail, ring up credit card debts, buy a car or even commit a felony in his name.


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