'Tale of the Tape' Comes Out Well for ABN Amro.(Algemene Bank Nederland)(Floppy work over the tape by DHL Airway employees)

Ann Arbor, MI -- A computer tape containing data on the some two million residential mortgage customers of ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. here has been found. The tape disappeared as it was being shipped to a credit bureau.

ABN Amro Mortgage Group chairman and chief executive Thomas M. Goldstein told a press conference that the company was just one month away from implementing a secure and encrypted transfer of those data to the credit bureaus.

The problem for ABN Amro started on Nov. 18, when overnight shipping firm DHL picked up a package containing the computer from ABN Amro's Chicago data processing center. It was supposed to go to an Experian credit bureau facility in Allen, Texas.

On the next business day, which was Nov. 21, Mr. Goldstein said the company performed its normal checks to see if the tape arrived. When it discovered it didn't, ABN Amro notified both Experian and DHL. An investigation was completed that did not find any sign of the tape, which contained the consumers' names, Social Security numbers, account numbers and payment history.

After the tape was found, Mr. Goldstein said what had happened is that the original airbill had fallen off the package. A DHL employee had opened the package, found the return address on the tape, put it into a new package addressed to ABN Amro and shipped it back to the company. The original airbill has not been located.

Mr. Goldstein was quick to say that no other information regarding any relationships those customers might have had with ABN Amro affiliates were on the tape. As of Dec. 20, no one has tried to use the information on the tape in a fraudulent manner. The tape itself, he told a second press ...