Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, said yesterday a worker at one of its subsidiaries stole 2.3 million consumer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information.

The employee sold the information to an unidentified data broker.

The broker then sold it to several direct marketing companies, but the data were not used in identity theft or other fraudulent financial activity, officials from Fidelity subsidiary Certegy Check Services said in a conference call.

About 2.2 million records stolen from Certegy contained bank account information and 99,000 contained credit card information, company officials said.

Marketing solicitations

"As a result of this apparent theft, the consumers affected received marketing solicitations from the companies that bought the data," said Renz Nichols, president of St. Petersburg-based Certegy.

"We believe that is the extent of any damage to the public," he said.

The company has found no fraudulent use of the information.

An investigation is continuing by the United States Secret Service and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Those agencies didn't return phone messages seeking comment.

Certegy has asked a court in St. Petersburg to get back all the information from the employee and the marketing companies as well as to stop its use.

Affected consumers

Certegy officials said they had contacted the data broker and the marketing companies and believed it would be able to get the data back and prevent future use. The broker and the companies did not know they were buying stolen information, officials said. Certegy did not release their names.

Certegy will notify all affected consumers of the theft and has contacted major credit agencies, Nichols said.

The employee, whose name was not released, was fired. He was identified as a senior level database administrator who had worked for the company for seven years.

Nichols characterised him as a "rogue and dishonest employee". He said the company will seek civil penalties against the former worker and wants criminal charges filed against him.

Investigation

The investigation began in May when Certegy learned that some of its customers were being solicited by telephone and mail. It launched an investigation and was unable to detect any breach of its security systems. It hired a forensic investigator to validate its findings and contacted the Secret Service, Nichols said.

The federal agency contacted the marketing companies to question the source of their information and determined it came from a company owned and operated by the Certegy employee. Nichols said he did not know how much money the employee received.

- AP