People’s personal information was dumped in public trash cans, Kansas lawsuit says
A national company must pay nearly $500,000 in fines after it dumped clients’ personal information in public trash cans, Kansas officials say.
SearchTec, a company with a satellite office in Kansas, typically performs searches for law firms, service companies and lenders while managing business documents. Some of those documents ended up in public garbage bins in Topeka, according to a 2017 lawsuit filed by the Kansas attorney general’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division.
SearchTec did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
That lawsuit was settled Oct. 26 when Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt ordered the company and three corporate entities associated with it to pay $484,450 and make changes to their business practices, according to a news release from the attorney general.
Schmidt’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division filed the lawsuit against the company when documents containing personal information were found in public trash bins without being shredded or properly disposed of according to the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, the release said. Kansas law requires businesses that collect this information to protect it.
The “personal information” in the documents could include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit or debit card numbers, and bank information, among other data that could be used to commit identity theft, according to the attorney general’s release.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 9:27 AM.
