Company Says Worker Stole, Sold Data
Bank, Credit Card Records Not Used for Fraud, Firm Asserts

By Ron Word
Associated Press
Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, said yesterday that a worker at one of its subsidiaries stole 2.3 million consumer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information.

The employee, who has been fired, sold the information to an unidentified data broker. The broker then sold some of it to several direct marketing companies, but the information was not used in identity theft or other fraudulent financial activity, officials from Certegy Check Services, the subsidiary, said in a conference call.

About 2.2 million records stolen from Certegy contained bank account information and 99,000 contained credit card information, company officials said.

"As a result of this apparent theft, the consumers affected received marketing solicitations from the companies that bought the data," said Renz Nichols, president of Certegy, which is based in St. Petersburg, Fla. "We believe that is the extent of any damage to the public."

The company said it has found no fraudulent use of the information. An investigation is underway by the Secret Service and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Certegy has asked a court in St. Petersburg to get back all the information from the employee and the marketing companies and stop its use.

Certegy officials said that they had contacted the data broker and the marketing companies and that they thought Certegy would be able to get the information back and prevent its future use. The broker and the companies did not know they were buying stolen information, officials said. Certegy did not release the names of the broker or the companies.

Certegy will notify all affected consumers of the theft and has contacted major credit agencies, Nichols said.

The former Certegy employee's name was not released. He was identified as a senior database administrator who had worked for the company for seven years.

Fidelity National is not related to Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest mutual fund company.