The United States Secret Service said it is investigating how the personal information of patients at the DeKalb Medical’s Hillandale facility was stolen.

The data involves patients seen at the hospital between July and October 2010.

The secret service said the case was similar to others in Georgia and Alabama.

They said the information may have been used to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service for individuals between the ages of 17 and 20.

DeKalb Medical sent letters to the approximately 7,500 patients who may have been affected by the theft and has offered these patients credit monitoring and identity theft counseling and restoration services free of charge.

DeKalb Medical said they were also doing their own internal investigation into the matter.

“DeKalb Medical is deeply committed not only to the care of our patients, but to the protection of all information entrusted to us. We sincerely regret that this personal information was compromised and are notifying and offering services to all individuals whose data could have possibly been included in this theft. We take this matter very seriously and are taking steps designed to minimize the possibility of such an event occurring in the future,” said Eric Norwood, FACHE, President and CEO, DeKalb Medical.

Any individual who has questions regarding whether he or she may have been impacted by the theft should call: 855-294-2545.

Affected patients may also contact the IRS 800-908-4490 or contact the Federal Trade Commission at 877- 438-4338.

If you have been impacted by this or have received one of the letters, we would like to hear from you. Please email us your contact information at newstip@wsbtv.com or call 404-897-7409.