Letters warning of ID theft returned to state

The Arizona Department of Economic Security is warning some clients of potential identity theft after 10,000 letters sent to notify people about just that problem were returned as undeliverable.

The 10,000 returned letters were among 65,000 mailed to people in DES' Early Intervention Program for children after two backup hard drives were stolen last October from a Phoenix storage facility. The backup drives stored sensitive information about parents and children enrolled in the program for children 3 and under with disabilities or developmental delays.

"When you look at the envelopes, you will see that the vast majority of them say they were returned because no one lives at that address by that name," said Steve Messinger with DES. He said the intended recipients apparently had just moved.

The hard drives had information only about clients in the Early Intervention Program, he said.

"It only affects this one program -- the Arizona Early Intervention Program. It doesn't affect people who might be getting food stamps, who might be getting unemployment."

He added, "We have yet to find a single case of identity theft. We're working with the Phoenix Police Department and, to my knowledge, they haven't found one either."

Messinger said DES is changing some procedures to protect against similar problems in the future.

"We're hopeful that through the media anybody who might have been involved through the Early Intervention Program, who has any concern about whether they were affected, will let us know."

Messinger said authorities believe the computer thieves were interested just in the value of the hardware, adding, "The data on it would be very difficult for them to access."

People who are concerned can contact DES at 602-532-9960 or go to the Web site www.azdes.gov.

On the Net:

• www.azdes.gov