Certegy
Encyclopedia
Certegy was a public corporation created in 2001 when Equifax
spun off their payment services division. The corporation had two divisions of its own: check verification and credit cards. In September 2005, a merger with Fidelity Information Services, a subsidiary
of Fidelity National Financial
, was announced. The merger was completed in 2006. Although designed to be the surviving entity of the merger, Certegy's corporate name was changed as part of the merger agreement to Fidelity National Information Services
, and the ticker symbol on the NYSE
changed from CEY to FIS.1 Executive offices were relocated to Jacksonville, Florida
, although manufacturing and operations remained in St. Petersburg, Florida
.
In 2004, Certegy acquired Game Financial, a cash access provider operating in several casinos in the United States, including rights to their trade name, GameCash. In 2007, it was announced that Certegy Gaming (formed after the acquisition of Game Financial) would be sold to Global Cash Access for $25 million.
Since the merger with Fidelity Information Services, the division of Certegy responsible for merchant check guarantee has been renamed as FIS. The Certegy name and check division of Fidelity Information Services is currently under negotiations for sale.
From a phone call to their call center (800-437-5120) on July 28, 2007, a Certegy representative stated that the information that was sold was limited to: name, address, phone number, and last four digits of the account in question. If the account was a checking account and only if the account holder's birth date was printed on the checks, then that birth date was also included in the sold information. Copies of letters sent to customers whose information was compromised stated FULL Social Security numbers, birth dates, checking account numbers were shared along with driver license account information.
Certegy has filed a civil complaint in St. Petersburg, Florida, against the former employee (William Sullivan, Tampa, Florida) and the marketing companies believed to have received the misappropriated data, seeking retrieval of all consumer information as well as an injunction against any use.
According to the suit, Sullivan, either on his own or through S&S Computer Services, sold the consumer information to JAM Marketing, a Seminole-based data broker. JAM admitted to Certegy that it paid Sullivan and/or S&S "substantial consideration" in exchange for the information, the suit says.
JAM in turn provided some of the information to three other marketing firms - Strategia Marketing in Largo, Data Secure IP LLC in Tampa and Whitehat.com Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., the suit says. Whitehat gave some of the information to two other companies, MCList Escrow Inc. in Seminole and Custom Response Teleservices in Elkhorn, Neb., and MCList provided some of the information to Quality Resources Inc. in Clearwater.
In late July 2007, Certegy announced that the number of records compromised was greater than originally stated. 8.5 million consumer records from the check authorizing company, more than three times the original estimate, was stated.
In November 2007, Sullivan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges. In July 2008, he was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $3.2 million in restitution, which is about 38 cents per record stolen.
On May 3, 2008, Notices from the Administrator for the US District Court, PO Box 3689, Portland, OR 97208 were sent out on a class action lawsuit to Certegy victims stating a reimbursement for identity theft up to $20,000 and would pay for "certain out of pocket expenses". The website www.dataSettlement.com online forms mention reimbursement for printing of check for new accounts ($40) and two years of credit monitoring services ($180). Phone calls can also be placed at 1-877-580-9770 about the class action lawsuit.
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
spun off their payment services division. The corporation had two divisions of its own: check verification and credit cards. In September 2005, a merger with Fidelity Information Services, a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Fidelity National Financial
Fidelity National Financial
Fidelity National Financial , headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, USA , is a Fortune 500 company that provides real estate and financial services...
, was announced. The merger was completed in 2006. Although designed to be the surviving entity of the merger, Certegy's corporate name was changed as part of the merger agreement to Fidelity National Information Services
Fidelity National Information Services
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. , also known as FIS, is a publicly traded corporation and is a global provider of banking and payments technology solutions, processing services and information-based services...
, and the ticker symbol on the NYSE
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
changed from CEY to FIS.1 Executive offices were relocated to Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, although manufacturing and operations remained in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
.
In 2004, Certegy acquired Game Financial, a cash access provider operating in several casinos in the United States, including rights to their trade name, GameCash. In 2007, it was announced that Certegy Gaming (formed after the acquisition of Game Financial) would be sold to Global Cash Access for $25 million.
Since the merger with Fidelity Information Services, the division of Certegy responsible for merchant check guarantee has been renamed as FIS. The Certegy name and check division of Fidelity Information Services is currently under negotiations for sale.
Consumer information compromised
On July 3, 2007, Certegy announced via press release that their security had been compromised by one of their own employees. Nearly three million names had been stolen and sold to marketing companies who then contacted various consumers with "offers to sell stuff".From a phone call to their call center (800-437-5120) on July 28, 2007, a Certegy representative stated that the information that was sold was limited to: name, address, phone number, and last four digits of the account in question. If the account was a checking account and only if the account holder's birth date was printed on the checks, then that birth date was also included in the sold information. Copies of letters sent to customers whose information was compromised stated FULL Social Security numbers, birth dates, checking account numbers were shared along with driver license account information.
Certegy has filed a civil complaint in St. Petersburg, Florida, against the former employee (William Sullivan, Tampa, Florida) and the marketing companies believed to have received the misappropriated data, seeking retrieval of all consumer information as well as an injunction against any use.
According to the suit, Sullivan, either on his own or through S&S Computer Services, sold the consumer information to JAM Marketing, a Seminole-based data broker. JAM admitted to Certegy that it paid Sullivan and/or S&S "substantial consideration" in exchange for the information, the suit says.
JAM in turn provided some of the information to three other marketing firms - Strategia Marketing in Largo, Data Secure IP LLC in Tampa and Whitehat.com Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., the suit says. Whitehat gave some of the information to two other companies, MCList Escrow Inc. in Seminole and Custom Response Teleservices in Elkhorn, Neb., and MCList provided some of the information to Quality Resources Inc. in Clearwater.
In late July 2007, Certegy announced that the number of records compromised was greater than originally stated. 8.5 million consumer records from the check authorizing company, more than three times the original estimate, was stated.
In November 2007, Sullivan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges. In July 2008, he was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $3.2 million in restitution, which is about 38 cents per record stolen.
On May 3, 2008, Notices from the Administrator for the US District Court, PO Box 3689, Portland, OR 97208 were sent out on a class action lawsuit to Certegy victims stating a reimbursement for identity theft up to $20,000 and would pay for "certain out of pocket expenses". The website www.dataSettlement.com online forms mention reimbursement for printing of check for new accounts ($40) and two years of credit monitoring services ($180). Phone calls can also be placed at 1-877-580-9770 about the class action lawsuit.