ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKS INFORMATION FROM WELLS FARGO & CO

ABOUT DISCLOSURE OF SOME CUSTOMERS’ SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS

(HARTFORD) – Attorney General George Jepsen is asking Wells Fargo & Co. for an explanation of why it may have disclosed the Social Security numbers of customers when it sent them copies of subpoenas issued by the state Department of Social Services as part of a fraud investigation.

DSS was seeking the financial records to determine whether financial information was falsified on applications for D-SNAP benefits submitted by some state employees.

It is a violation of Connecticut law for individuals or entities entrusted with Social Security numbers to disclose them improperly, Attorney General Jepsen said.

“My initial review suggests that neither Connecticut nor federal law required Wells to disclose DSS’s subpoenas to the customers whose records were sought therein. Nor am I aware of any reason to conclude that Wells was prohibited from redacting other individuals’ information from subpoenas it chose to disclose to customers,” Attorney General Jepsen wrote Wednesday in a letter to James M. Strother, Wells’ senior executive vice president and general counsel.

Published reports suggested Social Security numbers of multiple individuals, together with identifying information, were included on at least two subpoenas issued to Wells, and that Wells provided copies of those subpoenas to customers without redacting the personal information of the other customers, Jepsen said.

Jepsen asked the company to respond by next week “so that I may determine the appropriateness of Wells’ conduct and whether Wells must provide affected individuals with protections against identity theft or other harms.”

If a breach of customer information has occurred, Jepsen said, he would ask the company to provide affected customers with credit monitoring, identity theft insurance and security freeze reimbursement.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Fitzsimmons is handling this matter for the Attorney General.

View the letter - (PDF - 284KB)

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Twitter: @AGJepsen