Don’t Leave Personal Info in Cars

It’s a pretty simple safeguard, but one that bears repeating in the wake of a recent state grand jury indictment of four men accused of identity theft in Colorado: Don’t store private personal information in vehicles. That includes driver’s licenses, credit cards, checkbooks, anything bearing a Social Security number and, of course, any computers or other electronic devices containing private information. Personal info, after all, can be used as a tool by identity thieves.

In the Colorado case, authorities from the Boulder County District Attorney's Office and Office of the Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Unit believe this is what happened — checkbook and credit card fraud the alleged modus operandi.  

According to the Denver Post, the men named in the indictment allegedly “broke into cars parked in church parking lots and stole wallets, credit cards, purses, checkbooks and other personal articles.” The Boulder-based Daily Camera reports that the suspects are “suspected of using the stolen personal information to make fraudulent purchase of goods or gift cards from area stores, gas stations or restaurants.”

They allegedly targeted cars parked church parking lots, as well as trailheads and recreational centers, according to the Post. The 101-count indictment the suspects now face includes charges of “racketeering, multiple counts of theft and identity theft, and unauthorized use of credit cards.”


Identity thieves are well aware of the potential treasure trove of data sitting in car.  And if we're talking about laptops – identity information can in fact be worth much more than the computer equipment itself.  Not to mention that laptops stolen from automobiles have also been the cause of many a data breach. Last December in an unrelated case, 850,000 doctors in the BlueCross BlueShield network had their personal identifying information potentially exposed via a laptop computer stolen from a BlueCross BlueShield employee’s care. In violation of company policy, an unidentified employee downloaded an unencrypted network physician file, which is updated weekly, to his personal computer to work on it at home.

Of course, you can’t always avoid having to transport your laptop, but mitigate your risks when doing so.  Don’t leave your laptop in your car or unattended in a place where it could be stolen.  And make sure you have multiple layers of security: if you must transport sensitive data – be it yours or others’ – encrypt it, and be sure to password-protect your computer.