Up to 500,00 accounts at ten US banks may have been compromised during a four-year period in which corrupt bank staff sold personal financial data to an intermediary who passed the information on to debt collection agencies.
The updated theft figures are revealed by the Wall Street Journal as New Jersey police continue their investigation into the scheme. So far, Bank of America has notified 60,000 customers of the leaks, and Wachovia is monitoring some 48,000 customer accounts.
Police say that the total number of accounts breeched in the scam could yet rise above the one million mark.
So far, up to eight bank staff have been arrested in connection with the theft, including two who worked at Wachovia, one at BofA and five employed by New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp Inc. and PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.