*** PRESS RELEASE***

 

SF ASSESSOR SAFEGUARDS SOCIAL SECURITY INFORMATION

ON ALL RECORDED DOCUMENTS

 

San Francisco, CA - This December, the Office of the Assessor-Recorder completed an extensive project to redact sensitive financial information from over a million images recorded between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2007.  The effort is part of a statewide initiative to safeguard consumers and taxpayers from fraudulent activities across all 58 counties.  In San Francisco, the Office of the Assessor-Recorder implemented a process to redact all public documents recorded beginning January 1, 2008.

“Identity theft is a growing problem and we must all do what we can to safeguard personal financial information from getting into the wrong hands,” cautioned Assessor Chu, “that means that government too must be vigilant about protecting its sensitive data.”

According to the 2017 Identity Fraud Study from Javelin Strategy & Research, approximately 15.4 million Americans were victims of financial fraud in 2016, an increase of 16 percent compared to 2015.  The California State legislature passed law designed to protect consumers and taxpayers from identity fraud by providing local counties with direction and a funding mechanism to complete the work of redacting sensitive information from public records going back to 1980.  

 

###

 

Pub Date: 
Friday, December 29, 2017
Contact: 

City Hall Office:

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place Room 190
San Francisco, CA 94102-4698
Tel: (415) 554-5596 Fax: (415) 554-7151
www.sfassessor.org
email: assessor@sfgov.org