Wells Fargo offers reward for stolen computers

Wells Fargo & Co. is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of thieves who stole computers earlier this month containing confidential information about some of its customers.

The computers contained information about “a small percentage” of the banks personal line and loan customers, including names, addresses, social security numbers and their personal line of credit account number, Wells Fargo said in a statement Friday. They were stolen by burglars from the offices of an analyst hired by the bank in Concord, California.

Wells Fargo had no information as of Friday afternoon to suggest any stolen information had been misused. It said it is notifying all affected customers by mail and telephone and taking steps to protect them, including monitoring use of their accounts more closely for unusual activity and changing account numbers.

The bank is working with the Concord Police and the Northern California Computer Crime Task Force, it said. Anyone with information about the burglary should contact WeTip Anonymous at the toll-free U.S. number 1-800-78-CRIME.

“We want to apologize to our customers, and assure them that we have written to every customer who’s information was on the computers, and we’re calling them as well,” said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Lynn Greenwood.

She declined to say how many customers were affected, citing the ongoing investigation.