Police Find Stolen Bank Account Numbers of 6,600 Baltimore County Employees

Baltimore County has informed more than 12,000 employees and former employees that personal information—including Social Security numbers, addresses and salaries—was found on the computers of a former contract worker for the county during the investigation of a separate identity theft case in Florida.

Initially investigators said they believed the data only contained background information on employees, and not bank account numbers. But on Friday, investigators announced they found bank account information connected to 6,633 county employees.

Police believe the suspect downloaded the information from a county hard drive sometime during the suspect's employment, from December of 2011 through mid-July of 2012.

The data containing the bank account numbers comes from payroll files dating back to January and March of 2007, and has routing numbers of employees who had their checks deposited directly into bank accounts at the time, police said.

Investigators found no additional banking information on employees hired after March of 2007, according to the press release.

Fred Homan, administrative Officer for Baltimore County, will send letters to the 6,633 employees connected to the stolen routing numbers.

"Even with the state-of-the art forensic equipment available to the county investigators, it is a massive undertaking to go through each piece of data found on the seized computers," Homan said in the letter. "Should any additional information be discovered, I will alert you immediately."

After the theft was discovered, the county announced employees are no longer allowed to download personal information to county computers, and more then 5,000 county hard drives will be cleared of such data.

Rob Stradling, director of Information Technology for Baltimore County, said despite the fact routing numbers were found, banks have firewalls intended to protect customers in such instances. He also insisted employees regularly check their bank accounts for suspicious activity.

"It is a good idea in this day and age for individuals to check their financial accounts daily," Stradling said. "That is just the stark reality of the world today."

The county shared information on credit agencies for employees concerned about whether their credit was affected:

Equifax
Experian (TRW)
TransUnion Corp.

The county also shared these links for people looking to learn more about protection against identity theft:

Maryland Attorney General
Federal Trade Commission
United States Department of Justice