News 4 Investigates: How a major retailer was making personal information easily accessible
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) – A major retailer was putting you at risk by making very personal information easily accessible.
Now a News 4 Investigation is getting results and a popular chain that you likely shop at all the time is making changes.
The retailer is Walgreens.
If you enter your number at the cash register, you can earn Balance Rewards from Walgreens, points that can total up to cash.
Recently, though, Trey Forester, from St. Charles County, made a startling discovery.
“It’s just ridiculous to me,” he said.
On the Walgreens website, you could enter in anyone’s phone number, and, if they’re a member of the rewards program, you could see exactly what they bought, when, where and for how much.
“You just need their phone number. It’s simple. Just a phone number,” Forester said.
Forester looked up a few friends.
“I didn’t tell him, but he had bought Rogaine. That’s not information you want people knowing,” Forester said.
News 4 took the issue to consumer experts who say it’s a huge breach of privacy.
“It’s really crazy,” said Cara Spencer.
Spencer works for the Consumer’s Council of Missouri and is also an elected official.
“For me, my phone number is public, that’s true of almost anyone these days,” she said.
Spencer says our purchases say a lot about what’s going on with us, items like itch cream, lice shampoo or adult diapers for example.
“It may be something you wouldn’t want your employer to see, friends or neighbors to know that you’re experiencing some sort of medical situation,” she said.
Or personal items, like pregnancy tests and condoms, could show an ex you’re moving on.
“If you are having a domestic situation, this could wind up putting you in real danger,” she said.
She says nothing about the balance rewards program made it clear that your data might be out there.
“Do you think it should change?” asked Investigative Reporter, Lauren Trager.
“Absolutely, I don’t think this should be so freely and readily available to the general public,” Spencer said.
Forester says he never got a sufficient response and he wanted answers.
“Are they going to fix the problem? Are they going to apologize for allowing this to happen?” he asked.
So News 4 took the issue directly to Walgreens corporate offices and that’s exactly what they did.
Less than two days after our inquiry about it, the website changed.
A spokesperson politely declined to do an interview. But they provided the following statement:
We take the privacy and security of our Balance Rewards members seriously. A recent enhancement…. on Walgreens.com inadvertently also allowed the potential viewing of some additional purchase activity associated with that account. We have taken immediate action to correct this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Forester is relieved it’s resolved.
“It’s all we could talk about,” he said.
Walgreens says the issue has gone on since July.
After we brought this to their attention, Walgreens.com now prompts you to put in a password to see your purchase history.
We checked with other retailers, they require the same thing.
Filed under: General Problems
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