Customers have begun a
class action suit against two US banks after data on as many as
125,000 customers went missing.
The suit claims that the banks gave an unencrypted tape
containing personal details to a storage firm, which allegedly lost
the tape in transit.
Court documents filed in the Connecticut Superior Court in
Bridgeport allege that the Bank of New York Mellon gave 10 tapes to
storage firm Archive Systems to take to a storage facility.
On arrival the truck was missing a tape prepared by People's
United Bank that held confidential information such as names,
Social Security and bank account numbers.
Attorney Michael
Stratton, who filed the suit, alleges that People's and BNY
Mellon also shared depositors' account balances, net worth and
financial transaction histories, exposing them to identity
thieves.
So far the suit includes eight People's United Bank account
holders, but this could rise to 125,000, according to a report in
the New Haven Register. They are claiming eight years of free
credit monitoring, identity theft protection insurance and punitive
damages.