A technical issue has led to a privacy breach at the bank Belfius. The postal addresses of around 4,000 Belfius customers were printed incorrectly, resulting in confidential letters being sent to the wrong people.
The letters that were addressed with incorrect house numbers were sent between 16 June and 30 July. Although some of the letters contained general information concerning the bank and its products, others also contained bank statements.
The issue was first reported by the daily ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ and the commercial television channel VTM. Belfius’ spokeswoman Ulrike Pommée says that it has since been resolved. The bank has notified the data protection authority and informed the customers concerned by letter.
Belfius assumes that many of the letters with the wrong house number still reached the correct recipient and that many letters were returned to the bank unopened.