Telamon email mistake puts some Wake County residents' personal information at risk

5 On Your Side’s Keely Arthur spoke with applicants about their concerns and the company about the changes they have since made in their application process.

Multiple viewers reached out to 5 On Your Side, concerned about an email they received from Telamon, the company Wake County hired to distribute over $40 million dollars in federal emergency rental assistance funds.

Raleigh mother of three, LaNeisha Daniels, was one of them. She reached out to Telamon for help after losing two jobs during the pandemic, one with an airline and the other in retail. She said her bills started to pile up.

"You know the bill collectors, they don’t care," Daniels said.

So she turned to House Wake!, the county’s housing assistance program which has helped nearly 3-thousand people affected by the pandemic cover rent and utility payments.

Daniels told us, "That little extra help would’ve been a nice boost to get back on track."

Daniels applied in October, but says the boost never came, and she didn’t even get an email response until January 6th of this year.

But when that email arrived, Daniels says it came with a feeling of dread. That’s because a case worker for Telamon sent an email that was supposed to be private, but was not.

The email, asking for income tax forms or pay stubs, went to more than 350 email addresses.

Within minutes, someone replied all to the thread, saying their benefits letter was attached, exposing that letter and it’s contents to everyone on the email thread.

Telamon tried to correct their mistake, recalling the original email, but the damage was already done.

"It’s just a mess, it’s a mess," Daniels said.

5 On Your Side reached Telamon’s CEO Suzanne Orozco to find out what happened. She blamed the mistake on a new hire who did not put the recipients in a blind cc line.

"Unfortunately, she didn’t follow our protocol," Orozco told us.

Orozco admits that when one rental assistance applicant replied all, their Social Security benefit verification letter went to all 350-plus email addresses.

5 On Your Side’s Keely Arthur asked Orozco what she wanted to tell people affected by this. Orozco said, "I apologize to all of them because we didn’t ensure that our protocols were followed, we don’t want people to feel like they’re not being heard."

Orozco says this was a learning lesson and cybersecurity expert Neal Bridges says it can be for you too.

"I always try to encourage folks that if they get this type of urgent request from a sensitive organization that is requesting personal information, that they should absolutely pick up the phone and try to get in touch with that organization," Bridges said.

Bottom line, never "reply all" to an email with personal information involved.

5 On Your Sides Keely Arthur questioned Orozco if applicants should trust Telamon again, Orozco said yes. She said Telamon is now changing the way applicants submit paperwork from email, to a secure portal.

As for the one person who did share confidential information, Telamon has hired a team to ensure their information is not stolen or compromised.