Originally published June 15 2005
CitiFinancial starts informing customers of personal data loss
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Citigroup is now informing customers, after delays caused by a Secret Service investigation, that data tapes containing 3.9 million customers' social security numbers and payment histories were lost in transit.
CitiFinancial, the consumer finance division of Citigroup Inc., said Monday it has begun notifying some 3.9 million U.S. customers that computer tapes containing information about their accounts --- including Social Security numbers and payment histories --- have been lost.
Citigroup, which is based in New York, said the tapes were lost by the courier UPS Inc. in transit to a credit bureau.
The bank said the tapes contained information about both active and closed accounts at CitiFinancial's branch network.
The statement said that CitiFinancial "had no reason to believe that this information has been used inappropriately, nor has it received any reports of unauthorized activity."
It was the latest in a series of data losses or breaches that have forced financial institutions and other data collectors to warn customers that their personal information may be at risk.
Last month, media and entertainment company Time Warner Inc. said that computer backup tapes containing data on 600,000 individuals were lost by an outside data storage firm.
The data covered current and former employees going back to 1986, as well as some of their dependents and beneficiaries, the company said.
Kevin Kessinger, executive vice president of Citigroup's Global Consumer Group and president of Consumer Finance North America, told The Associated Press that the tapes left CitiFinancial on May 2 and were discovered missing on May 20.
Notification of customers was delayed at the request of the Secret Service, which is investigating the loss of the tapes, he said.
Kessinger said the bank's letter encouraged consumers to review activity on all their accounts to make sure nothing suspicious was occurring.
He said CitiFinancial also was arranging for all affected customers to sign up free of charge with a credit monitoring service for 90 days.
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