Ameritrade loses customer account info
Alex
February but (this being April) they "feel like we acted in a
timely fashion".
Alex
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/19/technology/ameritrade/index.htm
Ameritrade loses customer account info
As many as 200,000 current and former customers' personal information
is unaccounted for.
April 19, 2005: 7:01 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN) - Ameritrade said Tuesday account information
may have been lost for up to 200,000 customers when a package
containing tapes with back-up information on customer accounts went
missing.
A spokeswoman for the online broker said it was told in February that
a package holding four data cassettes containing current and former
Ameritrade (Research) account holders' information from the years
2000 through 2003 was misplaced by a shipping company Ameritrade
uses. It declined to name the company.
Three of the four tapes were recovered at the shippers' Maryland facility,
said the spokeswoman, Donna Kush. The one tape that remains missing
contains information on as many as 200,000 current and former customers,
she said. Ameritrade has about 3.7 million customers.
Kush says Ameritrade has reviewed the customer information that
would be on the missing back-up tape and has decided that only
175,000 of those customers needed to be notified, in accordance
with industry standards. The company began sending letters to
those customers last week.
"We feel like we acted in a timely fashion, " Kush said. "This was
not an Ameritrade Systems issue or a compromise of our technology.
This was related to a third party vendor."
She said Ameritrade has every reason to believe that the missing
fourth tape has either been destroyed or is still somewhere in the
shipper's facility. In addition, she said, the missing back-up tape
contained compressed data that would require very advanced
computer systems to access.
To date, none of Ameritrade's customers have reported that their
personal information has been compromised, Kush said, noting
this is the first time Ameritrade has lost customer account
information.
Ameritrade, a subsidiary of the Ameritrade Holding Group, was
formed in 1983. The parent company's stock edged higher on
Nasdaq Tuesday.
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LuckyDucky
> It all sounds a bit vague. They say that they lost the data in
> February but (this being April) they "feel like we acted in a
> timely fashion".
>
> Alex
>
>
> http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/19/technology/ameritrade/index.htm
>
> Ameritrade loses customer account info
>
> As many as 200,000 current and former customers' personal information
> is unaccounted for.
They should be forced to offer a time window where all account exit fees
are waived for anybody who wants out once they screw up like that.
You'll never see them propose it though.
JBoa...@cox.net
> Ameritrade loses customer account info
> As many as 200,000 current and former customers' personal information
> is unaccounted for.
They should be forced to offer a time window where all account exit
fees
are waived for anybody who wants out once they screw up like that.
You'll never see them propose it though.
Umm..I guess I look at news in a little different spectrum than most
here.
Broker competition has always been one of my favorite subjects in the
markets.
Perhaps Ameritrade is on the hit list..the account info being "lost" by
intention rather than by accident? What's it worth to a delivery man
(or other person involved) working in concert with an Ameritrade rival
to lose something in shipment? It wouldn't be the first time..or the
last. Yep, all those disgruntled Ameritrade accounts have to move to
another broker..sure beats "cold calling". :-)
co jones
Frithiof Andreas Jensen
<JBoa...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:1113980649.0...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Perhaps Ameritrade is on the hit list..the account info being "lost" by
> intention rather than by accident?
Maybe Jimmy Hoffa has done a Lazarus - Ameritrade failed to pay "the man"
and lessons were taught on the importance of being in good standing.
LuckyDucky
> intention rather than by accident? What's it worth to a delivery man
> (or other person involved) working in concert with an Ameritrade rival
> to lose something in shipment? It wouldn't be the first time..or the
> last. Yep, all those disgruntled Ameritrade accounts have to move to
> another broker..sure beats "cold calling". :-)
>
> co jones
>
Sounds like the work of Charles Schwab eh... everybody knows he's in with
"da family" - ;-)
JBoa...@cox.net
Sounds like the work of Charles Schwab eh... everybody knows he's in
with
"da family" - ;-)
Actually I was very serious on the loss by "accident" vs. stolen.
If the information on the tapes includes the trader's history of types
of trades, current holdings, etc, then it is a gold mine ready to be
tapped by a rival broker.
A rival broker "cold calling" one of these Ameritrade clients has all
the information in front of him..he can take anything in the data and
build his pitch around it..without the potential client knowing he has
the access to his history..be it stocks, options, covered call
strategies..whatever..it's in there.
One stolen account is worth several thousand dollars in commissions. If
you have 200k stolen accounts..well, do the math.
The fact that Ameritrade waited two months to notify clients was a
violation of the fiduciary responsibility they are charged with.
co jones
Frithiof Andreas Jensen
<JBoa...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:1114024627....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Actually I was very serious on the loss by "accident" vs. stolen.
> If the information on the tapes includes the trader's history of types
> of trades, current holdings, etc, then it is a gold mine ready to be
> tapped by a rival broker.
I think the problem is more immediate:
If you cannot get the account data, then you have nothing to give the IRS
for your tax assesment;
It is the nature of IRS that they will not really care *why* you cannot pony
up with your ledgers - as far as they are concerned, that is *your problem*;
while *their problem* is to look up in the rules to determine what kind(s)
of Retribution is warranted!!
JBoa...@cox.net
I think the problem is more immediate:
If you cannot get the account data, then you have nothing to give the
IRS
for your tax assesment;
It is the nature of IRS that they will not really care *why* you cannot
pony
up with your ledgers - as far as they are concerned, that is *your
problem*;
while *their problem* is to look up in the rules to determine what
kind(s)
of Retribution is warranted!!
Common sense dictates that an investor/client of Ameritrade is not at
fault for the missing information. His "best effort" in producing any
proof of income/loss should suffice in any tax court, if it comes to
that. I recall that the IRS reform in the late 90's shifted burden of
proof, in some cases, to the IRS and away from the citizen.
co jones
The Michael
news:d48208$22$1...@newstree.wise.edt.ericsson.se:
> I think the problem is more immediate:
>
> If you cannot get the account data, then you have nothing to give the
> IRS for your tax assesment;
IIRC, the client is not missing any data at all; the data that was lost was
on a backup tape.
> It is the nature of IRS that they will not really care *why* you
> cannot pony up with your ledgers - as far as they are concerned, that
> is *your problem*; while *their problem* is to look up in the rules to
> determine what kind(s) of Retribution is warranted!!
>
--
Mike
BD
> They should be forced to offer a time window where all account exit fees
>are waived for anybody who wants out once they screw up like that.
> You'll never see them propose it though.
There are no account exit fees as far as I know. (customer w/ 2
accounts)
LuckyDucky
best double check that.
last i saw it was $50 regular accounts and $25 IRAs.