Bank of America in new identity theft scare

The Bank of America is in the middle of yet another identity theft scare.

Users of the bank’s Visa Buxx pre-paid debit card service have been told they may have had sensitive personal information compromised, following the theft of an unencrypted laptop used by a service provider to the bank.

The bank wrote to Buxx users, warning them that customers may have had names, bank account numbers and credit card numbers stolen in the theft.

The laptop was stolen in August and the bank was notified of the theft last month. The bank has confirmed that information on the laptop was not encrypted.

In March, the bank confirmed that information on 60,000 of its customers had been stolen by an identity theft ring. This came just a month after Bank of America revealed it had lost back-up tapes containing the credit card account records of 1.2m US federal employees.

Telecoms company MCI recently caused an identity theft scare after one its employees had her laptop stolen from an unlocked car.