Marenco
07-17-2012, 10:26 PM
Car buyer mistaken as terrorist
By Mike Wagner
The Columbus Dispatch
Sandra Cortez went to buy a new car on her lunch break, and about an hour later, the Denver dealership staff was threatening to call the FBI to haul her away as a suspected terrorist.
The dealership's routine check of Cortez's credit report turned up something unusual on that day in 2005. It was an alert indicating that the woman was on a government list of suspected terrorists, international drug traffickers and others associated with weapons of mass destruction.
Cortez, now 68, was really just an accountant who wanted a new silver Subaru to better navigate the mountain roads she traveled to reach her favorite hiking trails.
The credit report Cortez had seen long before she walked into the dealership was clean. She had excellent credit, and she had no inkling that she was linked to a Colombian woman with a similar name wanted for drug trafficking. But like so many other consumers, Cortez didn't realize that the credit reports issued to businesses are not the same as those given to consumers.
For More: http://www.ajc.com/business/car-buyer-mistaken-as-1478371.html
By Mike Wagner
The Columbus Dispatch
Sandra Cortez went to buy a new car on her lunch break, and about an hour later, the Denver dealership staff was threatening to call the FBI to haul her away as a suspected terrorist.
The dealership's routine check of Cortez's credit report turned up something unusual on that day in 2005. It was an alert indicating that the woman was on a government list of suspected terrorists, international drug traffickers and others associated with weapons of mass destruction.
Cortez, now 68, was really just an accountant who wanted a new silver Subaru to better navigate the mountain roads she traveled to reach her favorite hiking trails.
The credit report Cortez had seen long before she walked into the dealership was clean. She had excellent credit, and she had no inkling that she was linked to a Colombian woman with a similar name wanted for drug trafficking. But like so many other consumers, Cortez didn't realize that the credit reports issued to businesses are not the same as those given to consumers.
For More: http://www.ajc.com/business/car-buyer-mistaken-as-1478371.html