OREGON COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM TAX SERVICE Server thieves fail to steal IDsServer thieves fail to steal IDs
Gresham police find computers stolen from a tax service, which says the culprits didn't succeed in grabbing taxpayers' information
Friday, August 12, 2005
JULIE TRIPP

Nearly 22,000 Portland-area tax clients of Fiducial Business Services can breathe a sign of relief: Police have recovered computer servers thieves tried -- unsuccessfully, it turns out -- to mine for personal information and possible identity theft.

Gresham police found two computer servers and a box of paper tax returns and forms in an abandoned van, along with computers and office equipment stolen from other businesses, according to Gresham police detective Justin Pick.

Thieves entered Fiducial's Stark Street office in Portland early June 21 and stole a dozen computers and two servers containing backup tax data for 21,839 clients from the company's 15 offices. A large box full of paper tax returns and forms set aside in the office for shredding also was stolen. The individual computers, which did not contain any client personal data, have not been found.


Pick said sorting the stolen materials and getting it returned to owners is time-consuming, so Fiducial didn't get its servers back until Tuesday, about three weeks after they were found, said Fiducial district manager Bill Pound.

"We can tell neither of the servers' data has been accessed," said Pound, "but we can also tell they were trying to." One server was slightly damaged where the thieves tried to unlock its contents, he said. A computer technician confirmed that the information on both had not been tapped.

Pick said police have some people of interest, but little or no physical evidence pointing to suspects. Gresham is cooperating with Portland, which investigated the Fiduciary burglary, and other area police agencies to share information. Thieves appear to be targeting businesses with computer equipment and personal information that could be used for identity theft, Pick said.

Pound said he hopes follow-up letters to Fiducial's tax clients will go out within two to three weeks. The initial warning letters alerting clients to the theft were slow to arrive, causing clients to complain that they were prevented from placing timely fraud alerts on their credit reports to deter identity thieves.

Fiducial's corporate counsel, Fiona K. Mensah, said Tuesday that Fiducial sent 1,000 warning letters to some clients 10 days after the burglary and that the rest were sent by its Canadian vendor company July 5. The letters were sent first class pre-sorted, not via slower bulk mail as a Fiducial client said he had been told by Fiducial headquarters. Mensah speculated that two holidays, July 1 in Canada and July 4 in the United States, had slowed delivery.