3.9 million data files go missing

Yet another case of missing personal information. A shipment of magnetic data tapes from Citigroup financial have turned up missing. These tapes contain information that was headed to the Credit Bureaus. 3.9 million people affected. Apparently letters are being sent out informing the people that they are victims.

Makes me wonder, when you add them all up, someone out there has alot of information that could be used for very bad purposes. Weird thing is that all this is happening after Bush made it harder to write off credit card debt. Any connection??

seattlepi.nwsource.com...

In one of the largest breaches of personal information to date, CitiFinancial, the consumer finance subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., announced yesterday that a box of computer tapes containing information on 3.9 million individual customers was lost by United Parcel Service last month while in transit to a credit reporting agency.

identity theft is a very scary thing, as individuals we have a hard enough time trying to keep our identities and personal info secure, ie, shredder, etc, but when your financial company goes and loses it or sells it, or has it stolen, you have to really think twice.

My only suggestion is to stay on top of your finances, keep up to date with your credit reports, it helps if you can catch these things as soon as they start. So don't be ignorant about your financial self, follow the money

I work for a regional bank and something like this is huge. Banks are basicially in the information business, and a loss this big will probably signal the end of the company.

I'm with Valkeryie, it does sound fishy. The first thing is that they were shipping the tapes via UPS, when regardless of bank size, most institutionals ship info like this via private courier, or preferrable do not transfer data physically. Second having worked with UPS as a corporate customer, they rarely just "lose" a package, especially one of that size. This reeks of inside job.

That does sound fishy. I couldn't imagine why they would use UPS for something like that. And on top of that, do we have any idea how much those were insured for? There's an inside job for ya.

just all the more reason to go get signed up for your custom made identity chip...
everyone will want one...
they will come in cool colors and have neat sayings on them,
like:
"read more...1984"
"what would antichrist do?"

the whole identity security thing is a scam...
there is no security when you have minumum wage earners in control and possession of information that they can make good money selling.

this ups driver could have sold this stuff for a cool million... A COOL MILLION...
so why the hell are companies sending private info via public mail...

they need to send it via armoured and bonded carrier like brinks...
identity info is as valuble if not more valuble than money...

My mother received one of these letters from Citigroup today. The repartitions they offer to the victims in this case is a free ninety day membership of a credit activity screening agency. Of course there were liberal apologies and assurances that there was very little chance of identity theft actually occurring due to these lost files. That was immediately followed with the fact that name, address, social security number, account number and information, and payment history were included in the tapes.

The threat of identity theft is frightening, but so are many other motives one may have for taking this information. If the tapes were purchased for a cool million as previously suggested, surely this person would not need to use a fake identity to purchase items of a much lesser value. They must have other ends in mind for the measures they have taken.

I dare not use my imagination as to possible uses of this information, but the shear magnitude of what was lost leads to ominous interpretation. I am afraid that the ninety day scrutiny of activity on her credit is not the only precaution she should take.