More than 2,200 veterans are eligible for free credit monitoring services after the VA mistakenly released tehir social security numbers to Ancestry.com following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Under the FOIA law, the VA is required to release information about deceased veterans. This information includes the veteran's name, social security number, date of birth, military branch assignments and more.
Somehow, information about more than 2,200 living veterans was included with the requested information about deceased veterans. No health-related information was provided to Ancestry.com.
This information was provided to Ancestry.com on March 18, 2011 and posted on that site on December 13, 2011. When the errors were discovered, the information was promptly removed.
Veterans who believe they may have been affected can verify this information by writing to:
ATTN: Garnett Best
The Department of Veterans Affairs, OIT Privacy Officer (005R1A)
810 Vermont Ave. NW
Washington DC 20420
Veterans can also request a free credit report by calling 1-877-322-8228 or on http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.
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