Posted at 1:40 a.m. EDT Sunday, September 10, 2000

Western Union Web site hacked ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Western Union warned thousands of online customers Saturday that hackers had broken into the money transferring company's Web site.

It was unclear whether the hackers obtained any personal account information. No fraudulent transactions had been reported by late Saturday, spokesman Peter Ziverts said.

Only Web site users who conducted online transactions would have been affected. The problem was discovered during a routine security check Friday, he said.

Company officials were using e-mail, letters and phone messages to alert between 10,000 and 20,000 consumers to cancel their credit or debit cards and get new ones, Ziverts said.

"It's a precaution. It's something we take seriously. We're taking no chances," he said.

The company's Web site displayed a message Saturday night saying it was out of service. It was not expected to be running for several days, Ziverts said.

http://www.charlotte.com/topnews/pub/western.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 10, 2000