BofA Loses Data Tapes of Federal Accounts

In the latest financial privacy slip-up, Bank of America Corp. said Friday that it lost computer tapes containing personal information on federal employees who use 1.2 million bank-issued cards to pay for expenses.

The data included Social Security numbers and home addresses of workers at dozens of government agencies, possibly including U.S. senators, a bank official said. The bank could not say how many workers were involved because some hold multiple cards.

The tapes were lost in December while being shipped to a backup data center, said Eloise Hale, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America. She wouldn’t disclose the method of shipment or how the loss occurred.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he was told in a briefing that baggage handlers probably stole the data backup tapes from a commercial plane. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) was among the senators whose information was on the missing tapes, a Leahy spokeswoman said.

Bank spokeswoman Alexandra Trower said the Visa-branded cards were used to pay for work-related travel and entertainment expenses. Bank of America expressed regret for the incident and said cardholders would not be liable for any losses.

“The investigation to date has found no evidence to suggest the tapes or their content have been accessed or misused, and the tapes are now presumed lost,” the bank said in a statement.

The bank’s statement said a “small number” of tapes had been lost, without mentioning that those tapes contained confidential information on more than 1 million accounts.

“That seems like a fairly large number,” said Joanne McNabb, head of the Office of Privacy Protection at California’s Department of Consumer Affairs.

Bank of America shares rose 59 cents to $46.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Associated Press was used in compiling this report.