Around 22,000 Social Security numbers of Delaware state government retirees have been inadvertently posted online by a government contractor.
Aon Consulting included the Social Security numbers, gender and birthdates of about 22,000 Delaware state government retirees in a request for proposals for insurance companies interested in providing vision coverage to employees and retirees. Retirees affected included teachers, state police and the judiciary.
That information was posted on the state’s procurement website, a mistake that went undetected for from August 16th to August 20th. The information was taken down once it was discovered.
Aon is a multinational corporation with offices in more than 120 countries.
Insurers need age and other information on the pool of people to be covered in order to prepare a bid, Aon Consulting spokesman Joe Micucci said Monday. He said that is normally done by using a random series of digits assigned to individuals to shield their identity, not their Social Security numbers.
However, “the information that should have been randomized was not,” Micucci said.
Letters are being sent to affected individuals who will be offered one year of free credit monitoring. The company also will provide the retirees information on the steps needed to place a fraud alert on their files.
Q: How can I dispute my credit report after someone has used my social security number?
A: I’m making some assumptions based on your question, but it seems that there are actually 2 issues involved. The first is if someone used your social security number for gain, without your permission, you have been a victim of identity theft. The second is that you need to dispute an item that has shown up on your credit report due to this identity theft.
Number one, take the appropriate steps to report the identity theft and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Read our post on what to do if someone has stolen your identity, for a complete writeup on what these steps are. It would also make sense to sign up for an identity theft protection service like Identity Guard to further protect yourself.
Number two, contact each of the 3 credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Transunion – to dispute any items on your credit report caused by this identity theft. You’ll want to do this after step one above, as you may need to provide documentation to prove your claim. Although you only mention one credit report in your question, you need to check all 3 of your credit reports to make sure they are all accurate. Once you’ve done this, you can file your disputes online, via the links below.
Experian
Equifax
TransUnion.