OREGON CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS REGARDING H and R BLOCK COMPUTER THEFT Opinion - StatesmanJournal.com: "Tax company fails clients

May 18, 2004

I just finished placing fraud alerts on my accounts after receiving a letter from H&R Block that my personal information was on a computer stolen in a burglary of their office.

What upsets me is I assumed a nationwide company that people trust with their financial information would use a small portion of their corporate profits to protect their clients? information with an alarm system. I was wrong.

Instead of trusting the letter?s assertion minimizing the risk of the stolen information being used for identity theft, I contacted a police officer I know. I learned it is common for these types of burglaries to occur for the express purpose of obtaining this kind of information to use in identity theft.

My concern is other people will trust what that letter says and not take steps to protect themselves.

My husband and I have always taken great care to protect ourselves from identity theft. We will add one more thing to our checklist. We will first check to see what security measures are in place before we let someone do our taxes again.

?Christina McClain

Salem"