An investigation of an alleged Vietnam-based identity theft ring has dragged in the credit reporting firm Experian and rekindled a congressional effort to force companies to reveal how they use Americans’ personal and financial data.

The scam allegedly resulted in the theft of data for 500,000 Americans, information which was then posted for sale on websites, including superget.info and findget.me. But the source of the data is unclear.

Security experts uncovered that detail and reported on it Sunday. In post,  it was stated the conspirators bought the information from a company called Court Ventures by posing as private investigators. Court Ventures, purchased in March 2012 by California-based Experian, had obtained the information through a data-sharing agreement with USInfoSearch.com, he wrote.

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