Scams & Alerts
Anheuser Busch Data Breach
Anheuser Busch notified the Utah Attorney General’s Office about a recent burglary of a laptop computer that contained personal identifying information on 191 Utah residents. The burglary occurred at an Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. office in Sunset Hills, Missouri, sometime between the evening of June 6, 2008 and the morning of June 9, 2008. Two other business tenants in the same office building were burglarized as well. Laptop computers were stolen from each business, including the Anheuser Busch office. The information contained on the Anheuser Busch stolen laptops contained personal information on approximately 191 residents of Utah. The information included their name, address and phone number, Social Security Number, date of birth, ethnicity and marital status. The theft was reported to the police and Anheuser Busch is cooperating with their investigation.
In addition, the information contained on the Anheuser Busch stolen laptops contained information relating to the services received from the Anheuser Busch Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”) on approximately 9 Utah residents, including EAP case notes and assessments, the names of the providers to whom the individuals were referred, and the treatment plans recommended by the providers.
The stolen Anheuser Busch laptops were password protected and the information was encrypted. At this time, there is no evidence that the incident has led to fraudulent credit applications or other identity theft crimes. Anheuser Busch is taking this issue very seriously by implementing additional quality controls to avoid similar incidents in the future. These controls include enhanced security measures that limit remote use to specifically designated individuals. Anheuser Busch is sending notice letters of the breach to all individuals whose names were in the data base. They will begin the process of mailing the notices to affected individuals, they have arranged with Equifax Personal Solutions to help them protect their identity and monitor credit information at no cost to them for one year and have provided enrollment steps.
Anheuser Busch is also alerting the effected individuals that they may consider placing an initial fraud alert on their credit file that would let creditors know to contact them before opening new accounts or making changes to existing accounts. In addition, affected individuals are being advised about two0thirds of the states have laws that enable individuals to place a “security freeze” on their credit reports. This is stronger than a fraud alert because it prevents anyone from accessing an individual’s credit file for any reason unless the individual instructs the credit bureaus to unfreeze his/her report. The security freeze is free to victims of identity theft in most states. Non-victims who wish to activate a security freeze for prevention in most states must pay a fee.
