Standard Life customers at risk of identity fraud

by Gill Montia

Story link: Standard Life customers at risk of identity fraud

Standard Life is warning its customers that they could become vicitms of identity fraud.

Personal details of around 15,000 Standard Life clients have been lost by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The incident occurred when a CD containing the data was sent from HMRC’s Newcastle office to Standard Life’s headquarters in Edinburgh.

The file, which contains names, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and pension details, went missing at the end of September and the courier firm charged with delivering the CD has been unable to locate it.

Mysteriously, a second CD containing data on customers of another company, which has remained unnamed, has also gone missing from the same courier.

HMRC and Standard Life have both now sent out warning letters to those involved but this has only happened five weeks after the security breach occurred.

The letters warn Standard Life customers to be “vigilant” whilst pointing out that the information on the CD did not include addresses.

However, some Standard Life customers are unhappy with the delay in notification.

John Gill, Standard Life’s director for customer services, has stated that the company has “no evidence that the disc has fallen into third party hands and we have also been closely monitoring all the accounts and have seen no indications of any suspicious activity.”

HMRC has refused to reveal whether the information was encrypted, for security reasons.

The Standard Life incident is the second in which the Revenue has admitted losing taxpayers’ details.

Early in October a laptop containing data on up to 2,000 people with investment ISAs was stolen from a car.