Hackers raided a poorly secured Western Union database and stole the personal data of more than 20,000 customers, including 1,300 New Yorkers, the wire-transfer company admitted yesterday.
The thieves got names, addresses, phone numbers and complete credit-card information after a breach sometime in late May, according to a letter sent to customers by James Keese, Western Union's privacy officer.
The data was held in an "offline" file not accessible through westernunion.com, said company spokeswoman Sherry Johnson.
"We are not aware of any ID theft or any kind of fraudulent use that was made from this information," she said and added that the FBI is investigating the incident.
The company began sending out letters warning customers of the breach on July 6.
It also offered to pay for one year of credit monitoring to affected customers.
Western Union international money transfers are especially popular in New York City with immigrants who send cash to their home countries.
But some loyal customers and immigrant advocates worried yesterday that the company was not doing enough to inform its customers of the loss of their sensitive personal data.
"Will they steal from me? I have an account," said Luis, a 32-year-old customer at the Western Union store on Court Street in Carroll Gardens, who asked that his full name not be used.
"I need Western Union to send money home to my family in the Dominican Republic."
Like several customers at the store, Luis was unaware of the breach. There were no notices posted inside the office with information on the theft.
City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, whose Corona, Queens district is home to many Western Union customers, said the company needs to communicate better - especially since it is only sending out letters in English.
"From Queens, many, if not the majority, of [the customers] are Spanish speakers. It's clearly unacceptable and just demonstrates their lack of outreach to our community," he said.
Western Union said because of the diversity of its customers it only sent notices in English, but it has multilingual customer service reps.