Hackers Steal Details of Thousands of Individuals from Archdiocese of Seattle

  • 11 March 2014
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The Archdiocese of Seattle is alerting employees and volunteers that their personally identifiable information might be abused by crooks to file fraudulent tax refunds. Apparently, the organization’s systems have been breached and sensitive information has been stolen.

In a notice posted on its website on Monday, the archdiocese advises employees and volunteers to check with the IRS to see if a tax return has already been filed in their name.

The organization says that it has hired a forensic security company to identify the source of the breach. The FBI has also been notified.

“Please be assured that we are taking all possible steps to determine the source of this problem. We are also working to determine what other steps should be taken by those impacted by the fraud,” the Archdiocese of Seattle noted in the alert written in both English and Spanish.

KIRO 7 has learned that the hackers might have stolen the details of as many as 90,000 people employed or volunteering at churches, schools and agencies. The archdiocese says that it has been collecting the personal details of employees and volunteers as part of the background check process.

During this process, they provide various pieces of information, including social security numbers, which represent the key piece of data needed by fraudsters to file false tax returns.
 
 

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Userlevel 5
I hope that does not happen in boston!

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