| Ameriprise Notifies Clients of Data Theft |
|---|
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Ameriprise Financial Inc. said Wednesday it has
notified about 226,000 people that their names and other personal data
were stored on a laptop computer that was stolen from an employee's
vehicle.
Ameriprise said it has alerted 68,000 current and former financial
advisers whose names and Social Security numbers were also stored on
the same computer. About 158,000 clients had only their names and
internal account numbers exposed. The company says it has more than 2
million customers and about 10,500 current financial advisers.
Minneapolis-based Ameriprise said it had received no reports that the
data lost in the theft had been used improperly. Ameriprise is the
name of the former American Express Financial Advisors division, which
New York-based American Express Co. spun off last fall.
Ameriprise said the theft appeared to be a "random criminal act" and
that it has been working with law enforcement to recover the laptop,
which it said was stolen recently from an employee's locked vehicle
that was parked offsite.
Company spokesman Steve Connolly said the laptop was stolen in late
December outside Minnesota, but he declined to say where.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=55067057