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May 23, 2005: 7:20 AM EDT - Bank
of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. are among the
major banks notifying more than 100,000 customers that
their accounts and personal information could be at
risk because their information was illegally sold to
collection agencies, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday
that former bank employees allegedly sold account
numbers and balances to a man who then sold the
data to collection agencies. More than 500,000
accounts are believed to be affected.
Bank of America (Research), the nation's No. 2
bank, has notified 60,000 customers of the
problem, while Wachovia (Research) has notified
48,000 customers. It is not clear if the
information was used in any identity theft
schemes, but it was apparently used by collection
agencies to speed collection actions against the
affected bank customers, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper said there have been 10 arrests in
the case, including the alleged ring leader,
Orazio Lembo, who operated DRL Associates. He
allegedly purchased the stolen account information
from the bank employees and sold it to more than
three dozen collection agencies and law firms.
The newspaper said the theft ring contrasts with
other incidents involving loss of personal
financial information in that this involved
employees of the affected companies rather than
hackers or outside criminals.
The account information came from 10 banks over a
four-year period, said police in Hackensack, N.J.
They said the investigation is continuing and the
list of affected bank customers could grow.
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