Has anybody else gotten one of these letters recently? (or ever?) DH got one last week and I got one today that basically said that some backup tapes had been stolen which contained personally identifiable information back around the middle of September and that they're going to give us one year of service with and Identity theft protection program.
Has anyone else dealt with this? The last time I had something like this come up it was name and address, no real harm done. I'm going to sign up for the one-year program they're offering, but I'm worried that the length of time is a little on the short side. I mean, there's nothing stopping the thieves from sitting on the info. for two years and then selling/having fun with it.
Any thoughts? Is it a good idea in general to have some type of monitoring set up?
Re: SAIC (Tricare) Personally identifiable information "stolen"
Nope. We're TriWest and got our letters today; they've been showing up around base for a couple of weeks now.
It's possible that it was south. We did live in Georgia for 9 months, and we both used the medical facilities on base while we were there. We live in the North region now, and have for over a year.
My husband and I both got a letter on Friday... Im glad to see that Im not the only one.... How much information could be on one truck?? This is crazy to me!
We've never "been" to Texas other than driving through Texas to get to Georgia. Our letters only said that the data tapes were in Texas when they were stolen.
Edit: Actually they did mention about lab work sent to San Antonio. I probably wasn't paying attention to that paragraph because I was already cussing by the end of the paragraph that explained the circumstances of the theft. I have no idea why either of us would ever have had lab work sent to San Antonio.
DH and I were a little suspicious of the letters. The letters didn't seem completely professional or legit. . .DH looked closely (and googled) because we suspected they could be fraud. Hearing that others received such letters makes me feel a bit better. . . As good as one can feel about a contractor compromising sensitive information. (Sure, it was stolen, but why allow the information to be in a situation where it could be stolen???)
My husband received his last week but I haven't gotten one. I know a lot of our friends also received them. We already have credit monitoring through USAA so I don't think we're signing up for the one they're offering.
In the letter they said they consider it a low threat since you have to have certain software and hardware to view the information on the tapes, I guess that's why they're only offering a free year. The information was lab workups that were sent to San Antonio for processing.
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I agree with you completely, hence the cussing I was doing. I also agree about the letters looking suspicious. DH had to assure me that SAIC was a real business and definitely connected to Tricare.
My thoughts exactly. I got a letter too and do not feel comfortable sending the paper back with my SS, full name and address. I don't know.. I still have a bad feeling about it. It reminds me of the scams that primarily send out to mil.
This patient is in South Carolina, and DH got an email about it. My friend who got one is in AZ.
I got a letter too. I was in Tricare South for a bit, but am now in North. I heard that labwork was sent there - like pap smears, etc. I've never been to a doctor in Texas.
MOAA said this and this about it, and I trust MOAA that it's legit.
I'm kind of shaded out by the fact I'll be sending my name and SSN in the mail to the organization that lost it in the first place. Shouldn't they have my info if they sent me the letter? And seriously, only one year is free?
Now that you mention it, we have USAA for insurance, maybe I'll go check how much it is to get services through them. I'm just sitting here thinking, what if it takes a full year for someone to really break into and retrieve the info from those tapes? And what if the employee was only following standard procedures? Yeesh. It sounds like this could happen again.
I don't like the idea of what could happen if the wrong people or organization suddenly came into possession of that kind of detailed information about people directly affiliated with our Armed Forces.
I signed myself up for the 5.50 USAA one. I told DH to do whichever/whatever he pleases.
More than anything I think that I'm just annoyed.
Are you talking about that thing where people put fake magnetic strip readers over the top of real ones?