Fifth Third sheds light on cyber event, now classified as a fraud scheme | Insurance Business America
Banking company Fifth Third has revealed a bit more information about the cyber incident it warned its customers about, saying that a “small group” of now former employees could be involved in a fraud ring looking to exploit stolen customers’ banking information.
The details come after the bank came under fire from the Consumer Federation of America for being initially ambiguous about the extent of the cyber breach incident with its customers.
Read more: Consumer advocate criticizes bank for vaguely informing customers of data breach
Fifth Third said in a statement published yesterday that about a hundred customers were affected by the cyber incident, but declined to give an exact number of employees involved in the suspected fraud scheme.
The bank also confirmed that all customers whose data may have been accessed by the former employees are being notified, Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
“Last week we reached out to customers whose personal information was manually accessed by a small number of former employees and may have been shared with people outside of the bank as part of a fraud ring,” Fifth Third said in its statement. “To be clear, this was not a cybersecurity data breach event, but rather an orchestrated effort by a small group of employees to steal personal information.”
The employees involved in the breach have been fired and are under criminal investigation, Fifth Third said.