CVS sued for allegedly tossing records in trash

CVS/Caremark Corp., the second-largest U.S. drugstore chain, has been sued by the Texas attorney general for allegedly dumping thousands of prescription records and credit card receipts in garbage bins behind a store.
The violations occurred in Liberty, Texas, near Houston, the attorney general’s office said last week in a statement. CVS could be fined $50,000 for each customer record that wasn’t properly disposed of, said Paco Felici, an office spokesman.
Investigators discovered that trash left behind the Liberty store contained credit- and debit-card numbers as well as prescription drug labels with customers’ names and addresses. Texas sued RadioShack Corp. earlier this month for similar violations.
The attorney general is trying to find out if any of the data from CVS was stolen and used improperly. The office recommends that CVS customers who notice discrepancies in their credit card statements notify the state and their credit-card company.
“The disposal of this information in the store Dumpster was a violation of our record-retention and privacy policies,’’ CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said in an e-mail. “The store manager was separated from the company, and we have cooperated fully with the attorney general’s investigation.’’
CVS said the records were thrown out as the company prepared to shut the location and move it to a new site. CVS operates more than 6,200 U.S. stores.