MANCHESTER, N.H. - Bellwether Community Credit Union said last week it lost a computer disk with about 3,000 members’ personal and account information and was in the process of informing members.
In a letter to member, Michael L’Ecuyer, president of the $290-million credit union, said it was unlikely the information on the disk would be compromised because although the whereabouts of the disc could not be confirmed, the credit union had no reason to believe it had actually been stolen.
“Recently, we discovered that a disk containing personal information was not immediately stored in its customary locked and secured location and its current status cannot be verified,” L’Ecuyer wrote. “We have no evidence of theft of this disk and believe the likelihood of the risk being compromised is very low. The disc contained information such as name, address, Social Security Number, birthday, Visa account information, and in some cases BCCU account numbers.”
He said they knew of no fraudulent or unusual activity on the accounts.
The disc had been physically sent to the credit union from an outside vendor.
Credit union officials said they believe the disc may have been unintentionally discarded or misplaced rather than stolen.
The credit union has offered all its affected members free use of an identity-theft protection service for 12 months.
Bellwether said it has also put advanced fraud monitoring in place on affected credit card accounts and continues to watch the situation closely.
