Donors Alerted on Theft

United Blood Services is sending out letters to thousands of Ventura County residents, warning them that personal information, including Social Security numbers, was contained in two laptop computers stolen from a repair shop.

Barbara Kain, director of communications for Arizona-based Blood Systems, United Blood Services’ parent company, said she did not believe the thieves had obtained any personal data from the two laptops, which were stolen from a shop in Phoenix on Dec. 30.

“The circumstances of the theft make it very unlikely that the thieves were looking for information,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that they were looking for hardware.”

Even if the thieves were looking for personal data, “our donor database is protected by multiple levels of security,” Kain said. “The levels of security are complex, and all of those levels are protected” by security codes.

The letters were sent out in accordance with a 2003 California law mandating that consumers be notified about possible breaches of security involving personal information.

Wells Fargo, Bank of America and the state Employment Development Department have had to send warning letters recently, said Brian Murnahan, information officer for the California Office of Privacy Protection.

Most of the 38,000 letters sent by United Blood Services went to people who have donated in Ventura County in the past seven years, although some were sent to California residents who donated in Reno.

No one in Central or Northern California was affected by the theft, Kain said.

Kain said the letters were being sent only to people with a Social Security number on file with United Blood Services.

In the letter, United Blood Services recommended that people affected place a fraud alert on their credit files by calling one of the three national credit reporting agencies.

People with questions or concerns can call United Blood Services at (866) 827-4376 or access the California Office of Privacy Protection website at www.privacy.ca.gov.

United Blood Services received about 28,000 donations from approximately 17,000 donors last year in Ventura County, Kain said.