Tuesday, February 15, 2011
COLUMBUS (AP) — A mailing in Ohio has exposed the Social Security numbers of people paid by the state to provide child care.
WBNS-TV in Columbus reports more than 8,000 providers were sent letters with their ID number from the program printed on the outside of the envelope.
Ben Johnson, a spokesman with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, says the provider number is the Social Security of individuals who offer child care out of their home. Other letters went to child-care centers identified by random, six-digit numbers.
Johnson says the mailing was generated by a company hired to manage a new system to make the payments automatically. He says his department is “extremely disappointed” by the breach.
State officials say identity-theft protection will be offered to those who were affected.