Nothing New on Missing Credit Card Tapes

The Defense Department, which has the most employees—both civilian and military—potentially affected by the loss of computer tapes containing personal information tied to government-issued credit cards, has said there is no additional information available on the status of the tapes, which continue to be presume to be lost, not stolen. There continues to be no indication that the tapes—which include information including names, addresses, credit card account numbers and Social Security numbers—have been accessed or used, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. There is no liability to you should your government travel card be subject to fraud, but the major concern of employees most commonly relates to the potential for identity theft. DFAS said that affected employees—who earlier were issued notification letters–may wish to call the issuing Bank of America at 800-493-8444 to ask for a free credit report and may wish to consider putting a fraud alert on their accounts, while noting that such alerts may slow down certain credit-related transactions, such as the processing of loans.