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ABN AMRO, the largest mortgage broker in Michigan, lost the records for 2 million of its customers.

Officials with ABN AMRO said they needed six tractor-trailers filled with first-class mail to reach all their customers. The firm has 4,716 mortgages around Grand Rapids and nearly 400 in the Holland area.

The crisis behind the mass-mailing is a single data tape filled with customers’ names, addresses, payment histories and account and Social Security numbers. That is every residential mortgage carried by ABN AMRO, formerly Standard Federal Bank.

In a Friday news conference, Chief Executive Officer Tom Goldstein said his mortgage company shipped the tape via DHL delivery service from Chicago on Nov. 18 to credit bureau Experian in Allen, Texas.

When the mortgage company called to check on the shipment Nov. 21, the package was not there. via MLive

The scary part is the tape that is missing has been lost for a month. When personal records are taken, the people who lost the information should tell their customers as soon as possible. ABN AMRO says they held off to see if anyone tried to get into their system, but the opportunity for fraud outside of their world is too great.

This information is digital. Once the encryption, if it had any, is broken, the data can be used for identity theft and fraud on historic proportions.

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