You may remember the news from a few months back about how the company known as TJX, the parent company of retail stores like Bob’s, Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx, managed to lose the personal data of millions of customers to Internet hackers.

It is now being reported that this blunder by TJX has helped facilitate a crime spree in Florida. The stolen TJX data was used by criminals there to manufacture their own credit cards that were essentially copies of those that belonged to some of the TXJ customers whose information was stolen.

The crooks then went to various Wal-Mart stores and purchased $400 gift cards which they then used to make purchases. These fine citizens even used one of the cards to splurge on a $290 celebration at a local restaurant.

The fraudulent purchases were made during the Christmas holiday season when large purchases are not uncommon and the volume of business at retail establishments would make their activity less noticeable.

The good news is that the ring leader of this band of Florida low-life is in custody and awaiting trial. The other good news is that TJX may face fines and have to pay restitution as a result of crimes that result from the data that was lost.

Maybe we’d see less of this stuff going on if some of these big companies would focus a little more on data security and stop putting everything except profit on the back burner.

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