You work at Capital One Visa and have some bad news to give some of your customers. During a recent trip, one of your account managers lost a laptop with customer information, including sensitive information like birthdates. The laptop had a number of software security mechanisms in place, so it’s unlikely, but not entirely impossible, that whoever found the laptop will be able to access the sensitive information.

Only a few of your customers (fewer than 3%) will be affected by this loss. Your procedures dictate that affected customers will be given a new account (a new card with a new credit card number will be sent to them) and the old account will be closed (so customers will have to destroy their current credit cards).   The current balances and current credit limits will be transferred to the new accounts. Some of your customers will be inconvenienced by this process.

Although you can’t force your customers to, you think it would be a wise idea for them to contact the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and put an identity theft or fraud watch request on their accounts.

Write a letter to those customers who were affected and let them know that the laptop was lost and what will happen with their accounts.