THE NATION - News from May 3, 2009

NEW YORK — The LexisNexis online information service told 32,000 people Friday that their personal information may have been improperly accessed by former customers, in a credit card fraud scheme that postal officials said had bilked about 300.

“I am writing to inform you that sensitive, personally identifiable information about you may have been viewed by a few individuals who should not have access to such information,” said the letter mailed Friday to people whose information is in LexisNexis databases.

Besides New York-based LexisNexis, the database of Investigative Professionals -- a company in Santa Fe, N.M., that conducts employee screenings and other background checks -- was breached, said U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Peter Rendina.

Postal authorities contacted the 300 people whose personal information was used fraudulently, he said.

Suspects had access to information on about 40,000 people but didn’t use all of it, he said.

No one had been arrested as of Friday, but authorities were wrapping up their investigation, he said.

He did not specify how their information was misused.

LexisNexis’ letter said the information -- including names, birth dates and Social Security numbers -- was used to set up fake credit cards.

The thieves, who operated businesses that were once LexisNexis customers, broke into mailboxes of businesses that contained LexisNexis database information, the letter said.

The information was obtained between June 2004 and October 2007, the letter said. There was no evidence of identity fraud in the investigation.

Investigative Professionals had no comment Friday.

In 2005, LexisNexis disclosed that hackers had retrieved personal information on as many as 32,000 Americans.