WSB-TV reports that three Home Depot human resources employees — Claudette Grimes, Lakisha Grimes and Paulette Shorter — have been arrested for allegedly accessing employees’ confidential information and using it to apply for and open fraudulent credit cards (h/t DataBreaches.net).
“Our corporate security, IT security and legal teams quickly investigated the matter and notified law enforcement, and the three associates were subsequently arrested,” Home Depot director of corporate communications Stephen Holmes said in a statement.
Claudette Grimes allegedly sent an e-mail from her Home Depot account containing more than 300 Home Depot employees’ personal information, including their Social Security numbers and birthdates.
The company says all potentially affected employees are being offered free credit monitoring. “Out of an abundance of caution and looking at the universe of those whose information might have been exposed — which we believe is between 10 and 20 thousand — we’ll notify others as needed,” Holmes said.