HP Scandal: Pretexting and Phone Record Privacy
In spillover activity spurred on by the recent Hewlett-Packard "phonegate" scandal, Verizon is suing 20 data brokers for fraudulent activity re pretexting. Pretexting is where someone pretends to be someone else so that they can access their phone records. Interestingly, the president and vice chair of Verizon is on the HP board of directors. Verizon says it has spent $100,000 investigate the pretexting fraud.
In related news, Democrats in the US House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, stalled a bill to make pretexting illegal. The activity is illegal in some states, including California, where the alleged activities took place. As part of an US House of Representatives probe into the pretexting scandal, five private investigators and at least two HP executives have been subpoenaed. HP is also under investigation in California.
Written by ewriter on October 3rd, 2006 with
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