December 23, 2008
Atlanta, Ga. - (December 23, 2008 ) -
ATLANTA, Ga. – December 23, 2008 – RBS WorldPay (formerly RBS Lynk), the U.S. payment processing
arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, today announced that its computer system had been improperly
accessed by an unauthorized party.
RBS WorldPay has urgently taken a number of important steps to mitigate risk in response to this situation.
The issue, which affected pre-paid cardholders and other individuals, was identified on November 10 and law
enforcement agencies and federal regulators were notified by RBS WorldPay shortly thereafter. RBS WorldPay’s
internal security professionals and outside experts are working with federal and state law enforcement authorities
in an investigation of this event.
The affected pre-paid cards include payroll cards and open-loop gift cards. Personal information associated with
certain payroll cards may have been improperly accessed. PINs for all PIN-enabled cards have been or are being reset.
Affected individuals are being notified and information has been posted on the RBS WorldPay Web site, www.rbsworldpay.us.
The fraud that has been identified to-date is associated with RBS WorldPay’s computer system supporting its U.S.
pre-paid and open-loop gift card issuing business. Actual fraud has been committed on approximately 100 cards.
Cardholders will not be responsible for unauthorized activity associated with this event. Certain personal information
of approximately 1.5 million cardholders and other individuals may have been affected and, of this group, Social
Security numbers of 1.1 million people may have been accessed. RBS WorldPay is offering impacted individuals whose
Social Security numbers may have been affected a complimentary one-year membership in a national subscription credit
monitoring service that provides access to individuals’ consumer credit reports and daily monitoring of their credit
files from all three national consumer reporting agencies.
Gift cards that have already been purchased retain their value and can be used wherever they are accepted by merchants.
Those gift cards that had not been purchased have been deactivated and are being removed for destruction from stores
as an additional precaution.
Ben Barone, president and CEO of RBS WorldPay, said, “Privacy is important to RBS WorldPay and we regret any inconvenience
this may cause affected individuals. We have taken important, immediate steps to mitigate risk and none of the affected
cardholders will be responsible for unauthorized activity on their account resulting from this situation. We are
working closely with leading computer security firms to further safeguard our system, and with law enforcement agencies,
which we hope will result in the criminals being brought to justice.”
Important Information for Affected Individuals
Cardholders who suspect fraudulent activity as a result of this situation can call the phone number located on the
back of their card to make a claim. RBS WorldPay has developed detailed information about this situation. This
information is available on the RBS WorldPay Web site at www.rbsworldpay.us, including details about steps individuals
can take to protect themselves.
About RBS WorldPay
RBS WorldPay is a leading, single-source provider of electronic payment processing services – including
credit, debit, EBT, checks, gift cards, e-commerce, customer loyalty cards, fleet cards, prepaid cards, ATM processing
and cash management services. The U.S. payment processing division of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, RBS
WorldPay is a non-bank subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group. For more information,
please visit www.rbsworldpay.us.
Media Contacts
RBS WorldPay
800.200.5965, x. 1210
media@rbsworldpay.us
