Today I’ve been reading sensational and very misleading headlines saying things like “Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service” and “Experian Duped into Selling Social Security Nos.”
Let me share with you the actual – and factual – events that led to the investigation and subsequent arrest of the suspect in the case surrounding Court Ventures and US Info Search.
The suspect in this case obtained access to US Info Search data through Court Ventures prior to the time Experian acquired the company.
To be clear, no Experian database was accessed.
Experian acquired Court Ventures in March, 2012 because of its national public records database. After the acquisition, the US Secret Service notified Experian that Court Ventures had been and was reselling data from US Info Search to a third party that the US Secret Service was investigating as possibly engaged in illegal activity.
Following the notice by the US Secret Service, Experian discontinued reselling US Info Search data and worked closely and in full cooperation with law enforcement to bring Vietnamese national Hieu Minh Ngo, the alleged perpetrator, to justice.
Because of the ongoing federal investigation, we are not free to say anything further at this time.