Own Shares in Disney But Get Screwed By BNY Mellon
June 5, 2008
Dammit, we got one of those notification letters AGAIN that our personal financial information has been lost. At first we couldn’t figure out why because we don’t use Bank of New York. Took a little digging to figure out one of their customers is Walt Disney Co. We own shares in Walt Disney Co., hence the notification.
This year there have been two separate incidents (February and April) unencrypted data from BNY Melon never arrived at the intended destination. The names of the companies transporting the unencrypted data are not being disclosed to the public.
This affected: depositor and shareholders of People’s United Bank and also shareholders of 24 other companies, including Walt Disney Co., John Hancock Financial Services, a unit of Manulife Financial Corp., and Bank of New York Mellon itself.
That’s extremely frustrating. It is so easy to forget that while you think you’re doing business with one entity, there are an unknown number of other “partners” and “service providers” that get hold of your private information and turn out to be the weak links in the overall security chain.
Again we’re offered the obligatory offering of 12 months of credit monitoring — but honestly that seems grossly inadequate and does little to make us feel better — or forgiving.
Even more frustrating is who to blame. Certainly not Disney’s fault. BNY Mellon security procedures are obviously disturbing that they routinely send unencrypted data via third parties. I can’t even moan about the companies responsible for transportation because they’re names are being withheld. Meanwhile, our politicians sit on the side and do nothing - as usual. An occasional saber rattle but no companies are ever held accountable.
What are your thoughts?
Related Links:
- Bank of New York Mellon Loses 4.5 Million Customer Records
- Lost backup tapes prompt IT changes at NY bank
- BNY Mellon’s data tape ‘lost in transit’
I received this letter, too. Is it a legit letter and problem?
Emily
Hi Emily, yes it is legit. In fact I’ve now received two letters from BNY Mellon.
Problem is they lost unencrypted tapes with personally identifiable information on thousands of people. Chances are the tapes will never fall into the wrong hands, but you can never be certain.
If you’ve been offered a year of free credit monitoring then you should consider taking advantage of it. If you under 18 years old, you should definitely discuss it with your parents.
Thanks for writing.
I received their letter a few days ago, but they completely butchered my name and asked that I log on to a strange looking website. I thought it was a scam and threw the letter away!!!
I spoke with the corporation in which I owned the stock. They confirmed BNY Mellon’s lost box. But I am still skeptical. I’ve been looking around the web for information. The letter, begining with dear sir or madam with the funny looking website seems too sales-pitchy. I’m going on the hunt to find more information before I sign up.
It’s a scam. Consumerinfo.com is just gathering information for sale to ad companies. Also, they want to sell you their credit monitoring service.
They were busted by the FTC back in 2005 for deceptive sales practices. Nothing has changed.
It doesn’t look like it is a scam. I called Disney (1 818 553 7200) and the welcoming recording confirmed that I’ve been screwed. Since I do business with Disney, not Mellon, it would have been nice if they’d let their shareholders know what happened.
So, you’re contacted by a company you have never heard about before and they want you to provide them with your SSN and other personal information.
Yeah, that’s a perfectly normal way of doing business….Not!
Do you give strangers your personal information?
The letters we received from BNY Melon offered a year of credit monitoring. I’ll try to find ours and post it here in the next day or so as a point of reference.
We haven’t applied to the offer because we already have credit monitoring due to another company screw up.
I have a few more reference links about this incident.
More reference links:
BNY Mellon’s 5/30/2008 Press Release — says they’re providing two free years of monitoring through Experian.
BNY Mellon’s Resource Center - Has a redirect link to the Experian website (experiandirect.com)
BNY Mellon Explains the February 2008 incident
BNY Mellon Explains the April 2008 incident
BNY Mellon’s Frequently Asked Questions about the incidents and what they’re doing as a result.
BOB: You have a good point about being suspicious about the domain consumerinfo.com, but check this out…
If you go to BNY Mellon’s site (http://www.bnymellon.com/tapequery/index.html) and click the “Enroll Now” link (http://partner.consumerinfo.com/monitor), it redirects to an Experian sign-up form (http://partner.experiandirect.com/triplealert/default.aspx?sc=668557)
If you are suspicious about the domain name experiandirect.com, go to the Experian Triple Alert site (http://www.experian.com/consumer_online_products/triple_advantage.html) and click “Get yours today” you’ll see that redirects to the domain experiandirect.com.
So these do seem valid.
EVERYONE: Thanks for contributing. I agree it is extremely important to be skeptical when receiving these kind of notices. Now that the official notices were mailed to affected people, it’s likely that scam artists will try to piggy back on it, especially using emails. So stay vigilant!
Roland, consumerinfo.com is just one of a large set of domains used by Experian. Some others include CIC Credit Monitor SVC; Consumer Info; Consumer Information; creditmatters.com; freecreditreport.com; homeradar.com; I Place; I Play Innings; QSpace.com.
All of these outfits are designed for one thing; to separate you from your money. They routinely engage in deceptive sales practices. In short, they are not trustworthy.
This letter from BNY Mellon is nothing more than a deceptive sales tactic. They want you to sign up for credit monitoring. They will put you on a “sucker list” and sell it to other companies. There is nothing illegal about this conduct, but it would be foolish for me or anyone else to fall victim to this fear mongering sales practice.
Bob, you make a great point. It’s a vicious circle:
- First we trust a company we do business with.
- Then the company betrays our trust and loses our personally identifiable information.
- Then as “compensation,” the company reluctantly gives a year of credit monitoring to quell the public relations crisis and make the customers be quiet and go away.
- Then we consumers share more personally identifiable information with the credit monitoring company who look for ways to sell us more stuff.
Personally, I’ve never paid for credit monitoring, nor do I plan to ever do so. However, I did take a free year of it because of another data loss incident earlier this year. I’ve marked my calendar to make sure I cancel that account before the year is up. I certainly don’t want to start paying for that.
- - - -
ALL: For those living in the United States, you should be aware that consumers in certain states are permitted free access to their credit reports from the big three credit reporting companies (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian). They can get a free report once every twelve months. You are not obligated to pay, but that doesn’t stop the companies from piling on all sorts of offers.
Learn complete details at the Federal Trade Commission’s site:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm
If it’s something you are interested in, you could strategically spread it out. For example, check TransUnion first, then four months later check Equifax, then four months later check Experian, then four months later check TransUnion again and so on.
Regardless, don’t feel pressured to take any action. Do your homework and decide what you are most comfortable with.
But be aware that you might not be able to stop the credit reporting companies from using your info to market additional services to you, or share your info with their marketing partners.
Help:
I am now in hour two trying to resolve this issue for my 20 member immediate family most of whom hold Disney stock and visit Disney World at least every other year.
I have called the magic phone number and after lots of bouncing aroung I got to listen to a very nice customer service person who for my ears could not speak understandabel English. He tried very had.
After holding, for 10 minutes or so for him to consult with his supervisor he offered another we site to visit on behalf of the resoluton of the protection plan for our grandchildrens stock.
I then reviewed and shared in the frustratiobn shown on this site.
One of your respondents indicated that this was a sham and we faithful Disney stock holders should call the always credible Mickey Mouse. I called the Disney number offered and got the ever present recofrding that assured us that this is not a scam and we should sign up for the cxredit monitoring.
DISNEY WHERE ARE YOU THIS IS EITHER A IDENTIFY GATHERING SCAM THAT YOU SHOULD VIGOURUSLY DISCLOSE OR IT IS NOT.
IF NOT YOU, DISNEY, SHOULD PROTECT OUR CREDIT THROUGH YOUR OVERT ACTION, , APOLOGIZE AND GIVE US A GIFT FOR THE AGGRAVATION CAUSED.
HOW DO I GET THESE COMMENTGS TO DISNEY???
I was on board with this credit monitoring offer until they asked me my mother’s maiden name. No way this is legit.
The second thing that proves this is a scam is the note at the bottom of the letter saying that this “offer” is not available to New York residents. At least one state has legislators looking out for the public.
If this offer was as good as it sounds, it wouldn’t be illegal in New York.
I will be reviewing my portfolio and any stocks that I own that have anything to do with BNY will get dumped promptly.
What is the charge if you don’t do the 30 or whatever things that are needed to cancel on time? How long will I have to sit on hold?
Don’t waste your time with this scam!
I received this letter today and it put together the missing piece of the drama I have been going through since late May. I had not lost my wallet or any info or even applied for credit recently but someone used my personal information to apply for about 10 credit card accounts and managed to rack up about 15K of debt. I called the number and informed them that their offer for credit monitoring was a bit late. The representative was not at liberty to confirm this has happened to others but it was clear from certain things he said that mine was a far from isolated incident and the data has indeed fallen into the wrong hands and is currently being used for fraud. This has been a nightmare of phone calls, letters, and trips to various police departments trying to clear this up. Don’t sign up for the credit monitoring if you don’t want, but DO check your credit and put a credit freeze because this is no joke.
I thought the letter was a scam also but I checked with Clark Howard and it is not! His team member said that Clark said the problem will get worse so he does advise to put a freeze on your credit. Also, I called 1-818-553-7200 (Disney Shareowner Info Line) and the recording does say it is real!
I felt that Disney should have contacted us when it happened back in February. Why the delay.
I’m confused. I got a letter like this indicating the issue being with my single share of Disney that my father bought me when I was a kid.
Problem is- is this real??? The reason I ask is that it was sent to my apartment address. Everything related to this share I have goes to my parents- so my address where I currently live isn’t listed with this share. On top of which I just moved to this Apt within the past year- just seems fishy to me that I received this lettter when my sister who also has the same deal never received anything like this. (I live in CT- where this apparently all happened, and my family in FL)
anyone have any input?
@Lauren -
I also received this letter in the mail this past week. I am in the same situation you are in. The address they have is my parents in Mass. but the letter arrived at my new house in SC. My brother and sister also have this stock and neither of them have received a letter. I did go to the better business bureau website and they comfirmed the letter was legitimate. I am still not sure. I am going to call Disney and the credit companies to try and get to the bottom of this.
I’ve received this letter as well…
I’ve read through these comments, and there’s still a lot of debate over whether the letter is real or not.
I’d like to suggest the possibility that the letter is, indeed, true … but … The offer of the free credit monitoring is attached to so many strings that some people will find that it’s not worth it.
I’d like to also mention that this site indicates which company actually lost the data:
http://breachblog.com/2008/03/27/bny.aspx
It sounds like this has happened more than once, so I can’t confirm whether it was this company both times.
The company name listed on that page is “Archive Systems, Inc.”.
My thoughts seem to be the same as most of you. I received the letter and am concerned if it is legitimate or not. But now what?? I have not filled out the info for the Experian monitoring and don’t know whether I should or not.
The stock was purchased for my two kids, by their grandmother. The letter only has one of their names listed.
I contacted my own financial planner. (who had nothing to do with the Disney Stock that was purchased, but I figured their input could help) They in turn called their home office and were told they could not give me any advice.
Now what?
I too received the letter about the missing Disney tapes.
If you log on to the website per the letter and go to the bottom of page 1 of the TripleAlert.com order form, you’ll see a check box asking them to send you “important credit information and special offers from Consumerinfo.com and other Experian companies, you’ll also see “Privacy Policy”. Select Privacy Policy and about half way down the page you’ll find.
“The National Advertising Initiative (NAI) has developed an opt-out tool with the express purpose of allowing consumers to “opt-out” of the targeted advertising delivered by its member networks. You can visit the NAI opt-out page and opt-out of this cookie tracking. Please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp for more information. ”
When you visit this site you will have the opportunity of Opting-out from about 20 sites that appear to gather online information via “cookies”.
Sounds like a scam to give you a little credit protection for a year or two while gathering info about your online browsing habits. No thanks I’ll do my own credit protection.
Thanks again to everyone that has been contributing to this particular topic. We are all benefiting from your experience, investigation and skepticism.
I agree with so many of the posters already. Why wouldn’t Disney send out info to it’s shareholders of record telling us what had happened instead of a somewhat unknown company. Granted, it costs money but put the Disney Lawyers on it and make BNY Mellon foot the bill.
Though this may be true …. it smells too much like Phishing to me. The bait is a free credit report from the three credit agencies …. but so what!!!
Can all of these posts be sent to Disney so that they can see what a little preventative medicine could have done on there part?
I got the same letter and DID sign up for the 2 years of free credit monitoring by Triplealert.com by Experian.
I signed up about 1 month ago, and just yesterday I tried to log on to see if anything was happening and my name, and password did not work. I then tried the “I forgot my password” login with name birthdate and last 4 #’s of SS# and still no record of me!
I think I threw away the original letter, and now I don’t know what to do. Can someone post the original letter and any suggestions??