From: Jim Byrd <byrd@acm.org>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 05:46:52 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: SSN database scam?
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960918141242.006e9b48@super.zippo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 01:22 PM 9/18/96 +0200, Gary Howland <gary@systemics.com> forwarded:
>Forwarded from www-security mailing list.
[snip]

>Can anybody comment on the item forwarded below my sig file? It claims
>there's a database w/ people's credit card no's etc on it and you have to
>give your name and social security number to get off of it.  This strikes
>me as being a scam to get your ssn, but this went around at work and
>people are actually calling and giving it out.  I know ssn's aren't really
>as secure as they're supposed to be, but  still...

I happen to work for Lexis-Nexis, but I don't speak for the company.  Yes,
P-Trak is real, it was recently made available to our customers.

It is NOT a scam to get SSNs.  Lexis-Nexis is a large and reputable company,
best-known for its huge legal database system, Lexis.  The Nexis side has
news reports from a large variety of sources.

P-Trak originally made SSNs available, but Lexis-Nexis removed this feature
in response to protests.