The plot thickens

The prescription benefits manager, Express Scripts, announced yesterday that

a small number of its clients have received letters threatening to expose the personal information of its members. The threats are believed to be connected to an extortion threat the company made public last week.

The letters, which were received by Express Scripts' clients in the past few days, are similar in form to the one that Express Scripts said it received in early October from an unknown person or persons threatening to publicly expose millions of the company's members' records if an extortion threat was not met. That original letter included the personal data of 75 Express Scripts members. The company publicly disclosed the extortion threat last week and is notifying affected members.

Express Scripts is offering a $1 million dollar reward and with the assistance of Kroll & Kroll has set up a special website to help participating plan members understand and react to the extortion threat.