A former employee of the Texas Lottery said that “accidentally copied the personal data of more than 27,000 Texas lottery winners”. OK, I’m calling BS on his story.
Oops. How did that USB key get there? I must have tripped and fell and “voila”.
The ex-employee downloaded “his own work files off his computer and took them to his next job”. Um, OK. Never known work related files to have a person traveling ability from company to company. Especially when you include the personal info for 27K people.
From the Dallas Morning News:
The names and Social Security numbers of 27,075 mid-level lottery winners — people who have won prizes from $600 up to around $1 million — were on the employee’s hard drive. Also included were the names, Social Security numbers and, in some cases, bank routing and account numbers of 639 current and former commission employees and 534 lottery retailers.
There have been no reports that the information has been used inappropriately, but in a letter sent out on Sept. 11, commission officials advised that the recipients put a fraud alert on their credit reports and check their bank statements.
I smell a rat here. Apparently so did the Texas Attorney’s office otherwise we wouldn’t be having this discussion.