If you are a Standard Life customer, you should make a strong cup of tea and have a sit down...you might need it.
This is because there is a strong chance you are at risk of fraud thanks to the wonderful skills demonstrated by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Yes, the clever chaps at HMRC have managed to lose the personal information of over 15,000 Standard Life customers that was on a CD sent from the Revenue office in Newcastle to the company's headquarters in Edinburgh.
In a massive understatement, HMRC and Standard Life have warned those at risk to be "vigilant"!
HMRC routinely sends CDs containing personal data on taxpayers to the insurance companies which hold their pensions.
A month ago a CD containing the names, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and pension plan numbers of nearly 15,000 Standard Life customers was lost by a courier taking it from the Revenue national insurance contributions office in Newcastle to the insurer's headquarters in Edinburgh. A second CD containing data on some customers of an unnamed second firm has also gone missing.
Warning letters have only now been sent to customers by HMRC and Standard Life, five weeks after the data breach occurred.
Five weeks? Who knows what could have happened to the information in that time?
Standard Life's director for customer services, John Gill, said:
"We have no evidence that the disc has fallen into third party hands and we have also been closely monitoring all the accounts and have seen no indications of any suspicious activity."
It's not surprising they have "no evidence that the disc has fallen into third party hands", but then thy have no evidence as to where the disk is anyway!
The Revenue refused to say "on security grounds" whether the information was encrypted, but John Gill said it was "in a coded format that would not be easy to read".
However, the joint letter from the two organisations warned customers that "there is a possibility that your personal data could be accessed by someone other than HMRC or Standard Life."
John Gill confirmed that Standard Life was still receiving discs from the Revenue and was "awaiting further info from the Revenue on how they propose to do this going forward."
This latest incident is the second time in a month that HMRC has admitted losing taxpayers' details. Early in October it revealed that a laptop had been stolen containing data on up to 2,000 people with investment ISAs.
So, if you are a Standard Life customer, it would be a good idea for you to be extra vigilant over your finances!
And if you have any queries, the HMRC has set up the following helplines:
(lines open from 0830 to 1700 Monday to Thursday and 0830 to 1630 on Fridays)
Surname beginning A-E: 0845 91 50249 or 0845 91 50134
Surname beginning F-J: 0845 91 50242 or 0845 91 50139
Surname beginning K-O: 0845 91 50267 or 0845 91 50244
Surname beginning P-T: 0845 91 50201 or 0845 91 58845
Surname beginning U-Z: 0845 91 50139
They lose your information, and then they make you pay their fine