Conn. accidentally sends personal info to (5000) wrong residents

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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/029/nation/Connecticut_accidentally_sends:.shtml

Connecticut accidentally sends personal information to wrong residents

By Associated Press, 1/29/2002 22:40

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP) The state said at least 5,000 residents were mailed forms that contained other people's Social Security numbers and other personal information.

The Department of Labor sent the UC-1099G forms to people who collected unemployment compensation last year. The recipients found that while their information was correct on the first page, the second contained someone else's information.

''If I have someone else's Social Security number and address, does that mean they have mine?'' said Michael Manning of Waterford. ''What's to stop this person from assuming my identity? They already have all the information that they need.''

Labor Commissioner Shaun Cashman apologized for the error and said a mailing will be sent out soon that will include corrected forms, a letter explaining the problem, and a postage-paid envelope to return the incorrect form to the labor department.

''I can't guarantee that someone won't misuse this information, but we did figure out who got which forms,'' said Charles McGlew, an unemployment insurance benefit director at the labor department. ''So if there is a problem, we know who had the form.''

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002


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