The information was used to activate more than 1,000 stolen credit cards. What they did was not representative of our employees. The 10 employees have been arrested and charged with illegally accessing and tampering with a government computer. Some employees also were charged with accepting ing bribes in exchange for the information they provided. The 10 employees, arrested in November, were alleged to be part of a larger ring of thieves that stole new or replacement credit cards mailed out to customers.
New cards are inactive until a user calls a special number to confirm receipt of the card.
As part of the security process, most credit card companies require users to know their mother's maiden name. It was that information the alleged credit card thieves needed from SSA employees. Through the crack SSA officials said the employees had access to a database that contained personal information about people with Social Security cards. The database was password-protected but did not have access controls as stringent as SSA databases that hold earning statements and other private information. Rieger said SSA clerks process 8 million new Social Security cards a year and 16 million for people who need a new card after marriage or if their card is lost.