Updated at 8:56 p.m., Thursday, January 25, 2007
State employee investigated in ID theft case
Advertiser Staff
Up to 11,500 current and former clients of the Wahiawa Women, Infants and Childrens program are being notified that their personal information may have been compromised after the discovery of an ID theft case.The Department of Health has put an employee of the WIC office on administrative leave and is investigating the security breach.
At least three families have had their information used illegally and the state is looking into at least two more cases.
"We are encouraging people to go and check their credit ratings and be on the lookout for any kind of suspicious activity," said Health Director Chiyome Fukino, M.D.
The department is recommending that all clients place a fraud alert on their credit files and notify the police of any suspicious credit activity, such as new cards or unauthorized charges.
Fukino said that the WIC program will no longer use Social Security numbers in its database to protect against future incidents.
For more information, call the WIC program at 586-8080 or visit identity theft Web sites such as www.hawaii.gov/dcca/quicklinks/id_theft_info and www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
