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3.9 million Citigroup customer’s financial data lost by UPS

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Sufferin' Prius Envy, Jun 7, 2005.

  1. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Computer tapes with Social Security numbers, names, account history and loan information on 3.9 million Citigroup customers lost by UPS in transit to credit bureau.
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/genera...der-cover_x.htm

    WOW . . . and just days after some data security provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) became law.

    •Federal fines. The federal government could fine you up to $2,500 for each violation.
    •State fines. States can fine up to $1,000 for each violation.
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/genera...der-cover_x.htm

    According to my calculations Citigroup could have been fined $13,650,000,000 (Thirteen billion six hundred million dollars) plus $1,000 for each Citygroup employee IF the law was applicable to them.

    Unfortunately, I don’t think the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act can be applied in this case. TOO BAD! These companies who collect, store, and manipulate personal data on anyone and everyone would think twice about data security.

    Imagine that! Citygroup sent unencrypted tapes via UPS. Don’t they have armored cars and armed couriers???? Ya think they would have been more carful if they had the possibility of incurring a thirteen billion dollar fine if the data were lost or stolen?

    If memory serves me correctly, other companies recently had large scale data losses or theft . . .Time Warner, LexisNexis, ChoicePoint, and Bank of America (With BA it was data on US government employees, including US senators!). There was also a large scale scheme to steal records of Bank of America customers which was recently foiled.

    Laws with severe penalties need to be implemented which would cause companies to want to collect and store as little personal financial data as possible and still do their jobs. Chief Financial Officers should suffer night sweats over financial liabilities of lost or stolen personal identification or financial data.
     
    #1 Sufferin' Prius Envy, Jun 7, 2005
  2. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I used to work for a corporate printing company. FYI: your bank/insurance/retail/telecom/invester most likely doesn't print your statement. A semi-truck turned over in a canyon about 20 miles from the plant on its way to the local airport for postal distribution. It was loaded with pallets of pre-sorted mail containing financial data, insurance data, bankrupcy court info, cell phone and utility bills, and many other things.

    The plant shut down and all employees were driven to the site to collect and account for every piece of first class mail that fell off the truck. In the end, every stinkin' statement was collected and recreated. Crisis averted. Yours and mine might have been one of them but we'll never know.

    This was four years ago at a location remaining undisclosed.
     
    #2 TonyPSchaefer, Jun 8, 2005
  3. GreenLady

    GreenLady Member

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    So....is Citigroup going to notify affected customers?

    Do I have to keep checking my credit report to see if anything is amiss? Thank goodness the free credit report law has taken effect (affect?, I never can remember) in my area!
     
    #3 GreenLady, Jun 8, 2005
  4. GeeWiz

    GeeWiz Junior Member

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    Re: 3.9 million Citigroup customer’s financial data lost by

    There are a number of good encryption packages, some of the best are based on OpenPGP. Not sure how many of you actually remember Phil Zimmerman going to court and jail over his publication of encription software, but luckly as americans we have the right to encrypt our personal information. The encryptions are very secure, and with this software available (even as open source), there is NO EXCUSE for sending clear text Personal Identifiable information. Citigroup SHOULD BE FINED, they should know better.

    For more information about PGP or it's open source efforts please see

    http://www.pgp.com and http://www.gnupg.org/
    Gw
     
    #4 GeeWiz, Jun 8, 2005
  5. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Re: 3.9 million Citigroup customer’s financial data lost by

    I get frustrated and angry whenever I hear of crap like this. People honestly can't seem to figure out why we have a crisis of Identity Theft in North America.

    Not only do companies routinely LOSE your private information, they also legally SELL it. True the information is "studentized" to supposedly protect your identity, but not really. Ever wonder why you get the junk mail that you do?

    How about inside jobs where bank employees, government employees, even some police officers, raid the database and sell the SIN's/SSN's to the highest bidder?

    What gets me is that if you experience Identity Theft, it's up to YOU to fix it. One of my Aunt's had this happen a year ago and her life is still a living hell.

    So far it has cost her over $3,500 Cdn to try to "fix" a problem that wasn't even her fault. Naturally, when it first happened the bank blamed her for it.

    I truly feel sorry for people who experience Identity Theft. They will be treated like lowlife criminals, especially by the bank, while the criminals who committed the crime are given a pat on the back.

    This is scandalous and outrageous.
     
    #5 jayman, Jun 10, 2005
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