Insider Identity Theft Example: Banc of America Broker

If you wonder what the phrase "insider identity theft" means, this case below is an excellent example. The basic definition of insider identity theft is when an employee (or contractor) at a company accesses personal information they aren't authorized to access. In the case below, it included the contact information of the company's clients. If you are one of those clients, this case illustrates how your contact information can be abused.

The Forbes article described how Dante J. DiFrancesco worked at Banc of America Investment Services (BAIS). When he left BAIS, DiFrancesco attempted to take his clients' contact information with him, only to clumsily discover that he'd take the contact information for 36,000 clients instead of his 180 clients.

The good news in this story is that BAIS discovered DiFrancesco's data access attempts. Companies with good data security have processes in place to detect when employees attempt to access information they aren't authorized to access, as BAIS did.

Like many things in business, the case went to court. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investigated, filed charges, and ultimately ruled in favor of BAIS. DiFrancesco appealed the ruling twice; first at FINRA (which affirmed the first ruling) and then at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC ruled against DiFrancesco, too.