Metro county warns thousands of residents Social Security numbers exposed

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Nearly 20,000 Forsyth County homeowners just found out their Social Security numbers were inadvertently exposed to the public.

The Forsyth County tax commissioner is apologizing for this mistake but he said they were able to limit the exposure and he believes the mistake is contained.

Still, help is being offered to those people affected.

Lindsey Hansard told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that she got the letter from the tax commissioner Monday informing her that it inadvertently exposed her Social Security number to the public.

"I was surprised. I was very surprised because I thought the county records were decently secure, but, you know, humans ... (are) involved in things and (there) was an error," Hansard said. "I'm a little nervous about it. A; a little concerned. You don't like to hear your information is out there."

Tax commissioner Matthew Ledbetter said the Social Security numbers were somehow included in non-confidential tax information.

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He also said only two parties downloaded them, but both have sent letters stating they will not use that information.

Ledbetter declined to go on camera, but in a statement to Elliot he said, “For this oversight, I personally take full responsibility, and I sincerely apologize for the concern and inconvenience this may cause our citizens."

Anna Richardson received one of these letters too.

“I was a little nervous about getting my Social Security number out there because I’ve been, you know, hacked,” Richardson said.

The county is offering one year of free credit monitoring to those affected, just in case. That's something
Hansard appreciated.

“In a way, I feel sorry for the tax commissioner here because, you know, you don't want that kind of thing to happen, but I’m going to take every advantage to watch my information closely,” Hansard told Elliot.

The tax commissioner said he's confident they have all that information now carefully secured.

Cox Media Group