Files with personal data found in trash bins

Hundred of files containing personal information such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers were found Saturday in metal trash bins at two locations in North Tampa.

Claudia Dozier, proprietor of Hair Visions Salon, found the first batch of files when she was taking garbage out behind her business. Dozier called News Channel 8, and a reporter who examined the files found they belonged to Creative Financial Services of Tampa Bay Inc., a mortgage lending company.

Further investigation showed the building where the mortgage company was supposed to be located was empty, but the trash bin beside the building was overflowing with mortgage records.

"I was really shocked because that could be my personal information; that could be your personal information," Dozier said. "When they talk about identity theft, this is where it starts."

Bassem Matoubsi, the former owner of the now-defunct mortgage company, said he paid a "private contractor," recommended by a friend, to shred the documents after he learned he was being evicted from the building. Matoubsi said he could not remember the name of the contractor when contacted by The Tampa Tribune on Saturday night.

"I have to get with a friend of mine, the one who brought (the contractor)," Matoubsi said. "I paid him a lot."

When Dozier called Tampa police Saturday to report the discarded files, she was told "the person that dumped this stuff should have shredded it."

Tampa Police Lt. Lee Bercaw said an officer with the department's economic crimes division was going Saturday night to check the dumpster behind the building where the mortgage company was located. Bercaw said he would notify the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to send a deputy to the dumpster behind the hair salon.

Creative Financial Services was incorporated in October 2002 and dissolved this past June, according to records with the Florida Secretary of State's office.

Matoubsi said he would try to take care of the dumped records Monday. Copies of the files are stored on his computer server, he said.

"The whole scenario was not professional," he said. "This guy was supposed to destroy all those boxes. There was a whole room of boxes."