By KWMU
St. Louis – The FBI is investigating an extortion threat sent to a major pharmacy benefit management company.
Officials at St. Louis-based Express Scripts say they received a letter demanding money, or else millions of patient records would be exposed.
Express said the letter included personal information about 75 people, including birth dates, social security numbers and prescription information.
The anonymous letter-writer demanded an undisclosed sum of money and threatened to expose millions of patient records if that money was not paid.
Express spokesman Steve Littlejohn said the company alerted the customers listed in the letter and said it is not aware of any identity theft.
Littlejohn said Express got the letter early last month, but waited until the federal investigation began before alerting the public.
Express Scripts manages prescription benefits for 50 million people in thousands of health insurance plans, making it one of the largest businesses of its kind.