Israeli Authorities Investigate Deletion of Unfavorable Credit Report Data from CRA Database

The Israeli National Police and the Ministry of Justice have jointly announced the conclusion of an investigation named “clean slate”, which found that unfavorable financial information about individuals was allegedly deleted from the database of an Israeli credit reporting agency, BDI, a company licensed to provide credit reporting services pursuant to the Israeli Credit Data Services Law.
 
The investigation, conducted by the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA) at the Ministry of Justice together with investigation unit 433 “Lahav” of the Israeli National Police, uncovered a network of dealers and buyers who allegedly collaborated with a former senior computer programmer at BDI.
 
The programmer allegedly abused his access credential at BDI and deleted unfavorable credit information of individuals from the company’s databases. The investigation also revealed five dealers who allegedly promised borrowers, whom BDI maintained unfavorable credit information about, to delete their unfavorable information in exchange for payment.
 
Credit data reports include information about debtors such as “unfavorable” information on bank account restrictions, debts to credit card companies, proceedings at the enforcement and collection authority, as well as bankruptcy proceedings. These data are used by lenders when considering applications for loans and mortgages. Reportedly, the suspected programmer concealed his activity and managed to delete information about 18 other suspects before his misconduct was revealed. The investigation’s findings were delivered to the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office (Taxation and Economics Division). Source: Ministry of Justice Press Release (in Hebrew).