FEMA says millions affected by overshare of personal information

FEMA reports more than 2 million people have been impacted by an overshare of “disaster survivor information” and mailed out letters to notify people affected by it.

On social media, more than 100 people in Southwest Florida confirmed they have received the letter from FEMA that claims their information has been overshared, and many people are questioning it.

This potential oversharing of information is through a FEMA program that has not been activated since 2008.

“That’s a long time for something to just pop up at you,” Jennifer Margolin said.

FEMA shared banking and addresses to a contracting company to reimburse survivors for hotel accommodations when they couldn’t return home. People like Margolin are asking why the federal agency is sharing people’s personal information with that company a decade later.

“The idea that if it’s our banking information that was accessed, that directly results to our social security number,” Margolin said. “And what if our social number was taken?”

FEMA said it has removed all personal information from the contractor’s system.

“If we are one of them, what is compromised?” Margolin asked. “And what can we do?”

FEMA said it’s now offering 18 months of free monitoring on people’s accounts to make sure information isn’t used. And the agency said there has been no suspicion or sign anyone’s information has been compromised, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible still.