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Ga. Labor Dept. emails out thousands of social security numbers

How would you like a stranger to know your name, age, phone number, email and social security number? For thousands of Cobb and Cherokee County residents, that nightmare is now a reality.

The Georgia Department of Labor admits one of its employees mistakenly sent vital information including social security numbers on 4,757 people of Cobb and Cherokee Counties who were unemployed as of September 25, 2012 to about 1,000 people who were on that same list. For those whose private information is now public, it’s a nightmare come true.

“I’m a little beside myself,” said Dan Rossborough.

“Oh, my God,” gasped Agnes Winder.

“This can’t be a good thing to be just handing out this kind of information,” said Clifford Lord.

The State Labor Department refused requests for an interview, but sent out a statement that said it will offer free credit monitoring to those affected. For Winder, that’s nowhere near enough.

“I think I’m going to be making a phone call to the unemployment office,” she said. “This is absolutely unacceptable.”

REQUEST SENT TO RECIPIENTS OF ERRANT GA. DEPT. OF LABOR EMAIL

Subject: RE: Official Notification from Georgia Department of Labor

Dear Customer

You received an email from Charlene Donald Allen, a Georgia Department of Labor employee, in error at 3:58 PM on Thursday, September 5, 2013. This email and the attachment contained confidential information that must be deleted. We request that you please delete the email and attachment immediately.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENT

A document containing confidential information, including names and social security numbers, for 4,457 customers of the Georgia Department of Labor’s Cobb-Cherokee Career Center has inadvertently been emailed to approximately 1,000 people, primarily in Cobb and Cherokee counties. The email occurred because of an employee error.

The department has notified recipients of the error and instructed them to immediately delete the file attached to the email without opening it.

The department will provide free credit monitoring services to all of the people affected.

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