"My husband jokes they have everything, but a key to the front door. They have social security, they have bank information," said Allison B. of Orinda.
Allison is worried about being the victim of identity theft. She leased her Mercedes in August and in the process gave much of her personal information. Everything was fine until she got a call from the dealer.
"They said any customer within the last year or so that has either purchased, leased or gotten a loaner car from the dealership is at risk of having their identity stolen," said Allison.
Police say at least one person broke into Mercedes-Benz of Walnut Creek on February 8th. Employees declined to make any on-camera statement, but in an email said the person or people responsible pried open the outside door, then another locked door where they broke into locked file cabinets and removed customer information. In all, 2,000 to 3,000 customer files were stolen.
Beni S. of Orinda found out on Thursday that her info was among them. She said, "I don't know. I'm just shaking right now because I have no idea how bad it can be."
Police say they're working with other agencies and pursuing multiple leads. A few customers have already reported unauthorized credit card applications.
As for Mercedes-Benz, it's offering to pay for one-year of credit monitoring with Experian. Regardless, Allison also wants the dealership to include the other two credit bureaus and for a much longer period of time.
"My information is out there. I believe it should be longer. Who knows what someone is going to do with it in the future?" said Allison.
It's an unfortunate situation. A car Allison got in large part for safety has left her feeling unsafe in the most unexpected way.
