The recent unrest and looting over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers may have led to the compromise of customers’ personal information at stores that were ransacked. According to reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer, 180 Walgreens stores across the country saw filled prescriptions stolen off shelves and various pieces of customer information removed from the stores’ pharmacies during May’s looting.
While information regarding personal finance and credit remained secure, the paper records attached to the prescription bottles as well as records used by store staff to dispense medication were vulnerable during the multiple nights of ongoing looting and vandalism. In a letter to its customers, Walgreens detailed that information that may have fallen into looters’ hands included names, ages, medication types and dosages, prescription names and the names of customers’ healthcare providers, health plan names, types, and numbers, information regarding the customers’ types of vaccinations, and their phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses.
The chain says that it has closed and reacquired prescriptions for affected customers to avoid fraudulent acquisition of prescription drugs and reversed any insurance claims that had been paid out for the purchase of such medication.
