Info on 3.9M Citigroup customers lost

[notiCIas]

Info on 3.9M Citigroup customers lost

Computer tapes with information about consumer lending lost by UPS in transit to credit bureau.

June 6, 2005: 1:22 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Citigroup said Monday that personal information on 3.9 million consumer lending customers was lost by UPS while in transit to a credit bureau -- the biggest breach of customer or employee data reported so far.

"We deeply regret this incident, which occurred in spite of the enhanced security procedures we require of our couriers," Kevin Kessinger, executive vice president of Citigroup (Research), said in a statement.

"Beginning in July, this data will be sent electronically in encrypted form," said Kessinger, who heads the company's consumer finance business in North America,

Customers with active at some with closed accounts at CitiFinancial Retail Services, were affected, the company said.

"You should know that there is little risk of your account being compromised because you have already received your loan. No additional credit may be obtained from CitiFinancial without your prior approval, either by initiating a new application or by providing positive proof of identification," Citigroup, the nation's No. 1 financial services company, said in a letter it sent to customers..

The tapes lost did not contain any customer information from CitiFinancial Auto, CitiFinancial Mortgage or any other Citigroup business, the statement said.

United Parcel Service (down $0.20 to $72.62, Research) confirmed that it lost a package shipped by Citigroup containing computer tapes.

Norman Black, UPS Media Relations Manager, told CNN that UPS "sincerely regrets the loss of this one package."

He said UPS and Citigroup are launching internal investigations, adding there was no evidence of theft or fraudulent activity.

Black could not provide detailed statistics on UPS's reliability rate but said it's "close to 100 percent." UPS ships some 14 million packages a day.

In recent months, a number of big companies said information on customers, or employees, including credit-card information, was compromised.