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YouTube Video Purports To Show Discarded Bank Documents

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 2, 2007
J.P. Morgan Chase is squaring off with the Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) over a video posted on YouTube of union employees discovering documents containing customers' personal information in the trash outside several of the corporation's offices in New York City.

The video shows SEIU members going through documents which allegedly contain customer information, including a checking account statement, a transaction history, and other documents that contained personal information such as names, addresses, account numbers, and Social Security numbers.

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The video was purportedly filmed outside a Chase branch on Lexington Avenue, and other finds were made at branches across the city. The documents shown in the video are blurred.

The video ends with a plea to call Tom Kelly, Chase's media contact for retail financial services. "Chase Freedom shouldn't mean freedom with your information," the video states.

Kelly said that the company is investigating the incident and that the trashed data violates Chase's standards for document disposal and privacy.

"We don't know what happened here; we are trying to find out," he said. "We had a conference call with all of our branch managers and reiterated what our policies and procedures are," he said.

A New York-local SEIU chapter is battling Chase over attempts to unionize security workers. Although the national SEIU site does not mention the video, an SEIU-affiliated blog called "Chase Trash" has been documenting coverage of the incident.

Chase and SEIU sparred on the issue for the media, with Kelly insinuating that the union members might use the information to violate customers' privacy, while SEIU spokeswoman Linda Tran said that the video was posted to "get people's attention" over the issue of Chase hiring contractors for security and blocking unionization efforts.

Chase's Document And Data Dithering

The "YouTube" incident is not the first time Chase has been taken to task for careless document and data security practices. Last year the financial giant was criticized for accidentally throwing out tapes containing customer data on 2.6 million cardholders of Chase's co-branded Circuit City credit cards.

And two weeks ago, the bank began notifying 47,000 Chicago-area customers and employees that a data tape containing their personal information was lost.

The tape was actually lost in late 2006, but the bank claimed the notifications took so long due to the "reconstruction" of the information on the tape. Chase claimed there was no evidence of identity theft or fraud involving the stolen data as of yet.

In September 2006, Chase tossed away five computer tapes containing data on holders of Circuit City credit cards, co-branded and sponsored by Chase.

Skeptics Abound

Not everyone is buying it. In the video’s comments section, a number of viewers questioned the video’s authenticity.

“This is sending my hoaxometer off the scale,” said a poster going by SomeYahoo. “Nice try.”

“It's astounding that some of the commenter actually believe this is real,” wrote NorthernBelleAK. “Are you really that gullible? No wonder the Internet is plagued by scam artists and predators: you make it so easy for them!”

But a poster from Britain said the video rings true.

“A lot of you lot are saying this is fake, but we have the same problem with a lot of top High Street banks over here in the UK,” wrote atc9000. “It does happen and should not be taken lightly.”

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