Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott recently charged three employers with failing to protect and properly discard records containing customers’ personal information. The companies have now agreed to beef up their information-security procedures … and establish appropriate employee training programs.

The problems came to light after a Corpus Christi reporter discovered company records in unprotected dumpsters. When Abbott’s office investigated, it found that the dumpsters contained customers’ personal information, including names, driver’s license numbers, and dates of birth. The three employers are GAB Robins, which provides services to insurance carriers, Victory Management Services, which managed loan company B&F Finance McAllen, L.L.C., and Nino Tax of Brownsville.

“Identity theft is one of the nation’s fastest growing and costly criminal enterprises,” Attorney General Abbott said. “These cases all involve companies that failed to properly dispose of materials containing their customers’ sensitive personal information.”