Chain cited for risking customers’ info

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Chain cited for risking customers’ info

Posted Monday, June 23, 2008

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Sample of receipts discarded at Sunmart Travel Centers & Convenience Stores in 10 states. Personal information redacted by the Attorney General's Office.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged Houston-based Petroleum Wholesale, L.P., which operates Sunmart Travel Centers & Convenience Stores in 10 states, for exposing its customers to identity theft. According to the state’s enforcement action, Petroleum Wholesale improperly discarded customer records containing sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit or debit card information.

“This defendant is charged with failing to protect its customers’ sensitive information,” Abbott said. “With more than 20,000 Texas victims each year, identity theft remains one of the nation’s fastest-growing crimes. The Office of the Attorney General will continue working to protect Texans from identity theft.”

Investigators with the Office of the Attorney General discovered that the company improperly discarded hundreds of customer records in a publicly-accessible trash container outside its former headquarters. According to investigators, the records included sales receipts with customers’ names and full credit or debit card numbers with expiration dates. The records also included returned checks, along with forms listing customers’ names, banking routing numbers, driver’s license and Social Security numbers.

The defendant is charged with violating the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act, which requires the safeguarding and proper destruction of clients’ sensitive personal information. State law establishes penalties of up to $50,000 per violation of the Act.

The OAG also charged the company with violating Chapter 35 of the Business and Commerce Code, which requires businesses to develop retention and disposal procedures for their clients’ personal information. The law provides for civil penalties of up to $500 for each abandoned record.

For more information about preventing identity theft, contact the Office of the Attorney General at (800) 252-8011 or visit the agency’s Web site at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. Texans may obtain free copies of their credit reports online at www.annualcreditreport.com.