Wisconsin Exposes 170,000 SSN to Identity Theft

Closing out a record year for identity theft,
the state of Wisconsin mistakenly mailed
out this past Friday 170,000 tax form packets
with resident's social security numbers (ssn)
printed on the outside address labels.

Although a printing company hired for the mailing
was at fault, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue
is working to retrieve the undelivered mail from
the US Postal Service.

"It's a serious breach, for sure"

This security breach impacts an estimated 15% of
the 1.1 million booklets mailed to individual taxpayers
who file their returns by mail.

So, our tip for today is for anyone who is or knows of
a Wisconsin tax payer who files their returns by mail.
Especially if that person has been out of town traveling
for the holidays, make sure to immediately retrieve
their delivered mail.

Also, take advantage of Wisconsin's new credit freeze law
which took effect January 1st.

Contact any of the three major credit bureaus to place a
credit freeze on your personal file. This will serve to
restrict access by unauthorized parties to your credit
file without your knowledge.