UPMC says ID theft scam affects all 62K workers

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says federal investigators now believe all 62,000 of the hospital network's employees have had their personal information accessed by identity thieves who have used information from about 800 workers to file bogus federal tax returns.

UPMC last month believed only 27,000 workers were affected, but Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE reported Friday that a memo to employees says "the scope may be larger than originally thought, potentially affecting every employee."

“It’s a really scary situation and I hope my name doesn’t pop up on that list,” UPMC employee Nila Payton said.

UPMC spokeswoman Gloria Kreps says there's no information that any more bogus tax returns have been filed with the employee information. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office says the investigation is continuing.

“That’s definitely something I’m going to be looking into. I’m concerned about information getting out when I should be secure,” employee Corey Brown said.

Kreps says UPMC is offering computer fraud protection service to its employees for free and says computer system upgrades should prevent similar future attacks.

“We had the lifelock option and I did mine a couple of days ago, so hopefully it works,” Payton said.

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