New York Real Estate Firm Dumps A Year's Worth Of Client Info On The Street
What are those papers blowing down Columbus Avenue? Why, those are your tax returns, driver's licenses, credit reports, bank statements, and 401k statements. It seems that your real estate company, Citi Habitats, dumped an entire years worth of sensitive client documents in the streets of New York.
ABC7 says:
Dannen used the firm to find an apartment in 2006. We found her name, phone number and annual income on a registration form.
"Just in the gutter? My life was in the gutter. That's nice," she said.
ABC7 says that the company has apologized and claims that the papers were disposed of improperly due to their offices being renovated.
They said that they took immediate steps to clean up the mess, but ABC7 says they were still finding documents a block away 8 hours after the clean-up ended. Nice work guys, the real estate industry needs this kind of excellent PR.
Personal info found littered on street [ABC7]
CitiHabitats Dumps Old Clients' Personal Data on Street [Gothamist] (Thanks, Otis!)
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Comments:
I dispose of both my office's and my sensitive documents in a 55 gallon steel drum in my backyard. The only other thing I add to the drum is a match. So far I haven't had anything sensitive escape from that drum intact.
I just bought a house. Got a call from a girl saying she found a bunch of checks lying on the sidewalk in Long Beach (NY) and one of the checks was from me. To my home inspection company.
Apparently they dumped un-cashed checks all over the street. At least that one they were quick to clean that up.
Not the same at all I know but apparently no one is careful with documents anymore.
@ QuadNipple_GitEmSteveDave
Just make sure you stir that thing. When I was a kid we burned all of our paper trash and you'd be amazed how the top of a stack of paper can be turned to ash while just a few sheets down it was still perfectly readable even after the fire had burned for hours and gone out.
None of those people should be surprised - CitiHabitats is one of the sketchiest scammiest real estate broker agencies in a city full of 'em. They are well known for the thousands of bait and switch rental listings they constantly post on Craigslist.
I should have dumped an "approved for $500000 mortgage"
paper in the gutter then go in a few days from now demanding my money.
@QuadNipple_GitEmSteveDave: I do the same thing. it works wonders.
I should note for others; it's NOT wise to burn papers in a fireplace. Too much soot and smoldering paper likes to rise with the heat.
Can they be sued for this?
@Scott Harriman: I have holes drilled in the bottom of the drum so it can draw air through them to burn the bottom stuff.
@QuadNipple_GitEmSteveDave: That is way illegal in NYC. Paper shredders on the other hand including trucks that finely shred and combine waste from multiple clients are very available!
Dear Obama
We need to declare open season on these Citigroup farkers.
@joe18521: They could be especially if someone's identity is stolen and it can be proven that it happened due to the company's negligence. Depending on state laws this could fall under criminal negligence and they can face stiff fines from HIPPA GLBA etc.
@YourTechSupport: Just so you know CitiHabitats has nothing to do with CitiGroup. CitiHabitats is owned by NRT LLC if you want to complain.
@TrueBlue63: YOu should know from his posts that he is a joking man. Oh, and he hails from Jersey Nuovo :P
I see this happen all the time. I work for a mall as Security and checked the dumpsters one time when it was over filled with boxes and a bunch of papers on the floor as well. Turned out to be credit card information, including address, entire account numbers, etc, of any and all shoppers who swiped their card between 2000-2005ish. I was infuriated, took it up with my boss and the manager of the Foot Locker, however neither did anything more than a "meh". My friend has just bought something on card the week prior, and have both vowed never to show at a Footlocker again.
HAS THE ENTIRE U.S OF A. GONE TOTALLY INSANE. THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO ONE LEFT TO TRUST. EVERY COMPANY IS RUN BY A BUNCH OF "GOOD JOB BROWNIE" IDIOTS.
PRESIDENT OBAMA IS OUR ONLY HOPE FOR SOME TEENY TINY BIT OF LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. BUT WE MAY BE ALL DEAD BY THEN. THANK GOD I DO NOT HAVE ANY CHILDREN.
@MudkipNDS is a very sad Nowhere Man :(: I am dead serious about burning my paper. I burn all my paper garbage and yard waste(except leaves). I have only had one complaint, and have even had bon-type fires going in my six foot fire pit when the fire dept showed up to practice across the street in the empty school parking lot, and they haven't said a word to me.
But yeah, check your local regs, and only do stuff on the weekends when the enforcement officers are off, and the police patrols are light. ;)
Thank God you don't have any children and that you'll never be published because reading prose comprised of screaming is hard on one's head.
I know MSNBC used to blame Bush for this kind of stuff. Now, I will blame Obama.
I am a realtor, so this particularly pisses me off. If we somehow lost our minds and allowed something like this to happen, our licenses would be dinged or even yanked, stat.
Though some of the sensitive docs I have do in fact get recycled as fire-starting material, the vast majority gets shredded and composted. Works real good.
This firm should be sued for both littering and the privacy concerns they have caused.
What a lame apology. Accidentally dumping loads of sensitive documents out on the street? Right.
THANK GOD YOU FOUND YOUR CAPLOCK KEY!!
Whenever something like this happens, you have to wonder whether it really is just a single, isolated incident, or whether it reflects shoddy business practices on the part of the whole company. If I were a Citi Habitats renter in NYC, I'd be contacting my local office to make sure that they were dealing properly with my paperwork.
@Addicted To Chocohol: Yes- Citi should be paying for credit freezes for everyone whose data they couldn't get back because it's almost surely in someone else's hands.
@einstoch: In that case one would expect a complaint from Citigroup in much the manner that Monster Cable makes all the time, correct? In this case they would actually have a reasonable case against CitiHabitats.
@Addicted To Chocohol: Well the good thing is, unless you have perfect credit, "they" can't run up a bunch of charge cards in your name.
PRIVACY FAIL
@snidelywhiplash: One of the ladies in my office is the shred fiend. I'm the burn fiend. Shredded paper is a really good firestarter, and my barn cats love curling up in a box of it. Not while it's burning, of course.
@tworld: OH MY GOD. I SCREWED UP SO BADLY. I HAVE A CHILD. WE ARE DOOMED, DOOMED!!!! I'M GOING TO PULL HER OUT OF SCHOOL AND MOVE INTO A BOMB SHELTER AND ONLY TEACHER HER THINGS ABOUT LIVING UNDERGROUND.
Stories like this help you learn to feel helpless because it proves that everything you do to protect your identity is futile.
(Which is not to say that it shouldn't be reported.)
This is no different from the "props" used as random paperwork and mail in any office scene in any movie or TV show. Good reading when you get bored.
And knowing New York those info won't be on the street much longer if you know what I mean.