MASSACHUSETTS: The newspapers Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette need to know that there is such as thing as a paper shredder; and that paperwork from the finance department does not make ideal recycling material. In a near-calamitous goof-up the two newspapers disclosed credit card data of about 240,000 subscribers on the back of slips that are used as labels while distributing bundles of the Sunday Telegram. The 'slip-up' resulted in thousands of subscribers yelling down the newspapers' hotline yesterday.
The slips known as 'routing slips' are pasted on bundles of newspapers to indicate their individual destinations. Newspapers routinely recycle internal reports for the printing of routing slips and other similar usage. In this case, as many as 9000 bundles of the Sunday Telegram and Gazette went out with customers' payment information printed on the backs of the slips. As many as a quarter million of subscribers are now exposed to fraud due to the slip up.
The newspapers quickly issued a press release and rushed their representatives to retrieve as many routing slips as can be located. The newspapers are hopeful that 'most of the slips are likely to have been discarded'.
Publisher Richard Gilman said the newspapers had taken immediate steps to remedy the situation. They have informed card companies like MasterCard, Discover, Visa and American Express. Although thousands of upset customers rang up their hotline number 1-888-665-2644, so far been there have been no reports about misuse of credit cards have come in. The hotline was set up to inform anxious customers whether their credit card number was sent out with the slips.
A spokesman of the Globe said that the management had decided to discontinue the practice of recycling internal reports. They have also asked their subscribers to contact their credit card companies and to monitor their accounts closely to detect any unauthorized transaction.
The newspapers may have to do more than just that, if Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly finds they have violated the state's consumer protection law prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices. A spokesperson of the AG said, they were looking into the matter to see if they have a case. The lawyers plan to meet Globe executives about the slip-up.
The mistake was detected on Monday when a merchant noticed the names and credit card numbers behind the routing slips. He immediately informed the newspapers.
The Globe's Sunday edition has a circulation of 81,000.
