AN INVESTIGATION has today been launched into how a Suffolk woman received bank statements destined for 23 other people.

Furious Nina Diggens was shocked when she opened her bank statement only to find other people’s statements tucked inside.

On Saturday morning when the A4 envelope from Natwest came through her letterbox Mrs Diggens expected the bulky package to include a magazine.

So she was shocked to discover the account numbers, names, addresses and balances for 23 other people, unknown to her, glaring back.

The 39-year-old said she sat staring at the statements in “complete disbelief” as she realised the potential disaster of the bank’s “catastrophic mistake”.

People across the country, from London to Birmingham, have fallen victim to this error.

Mrs Diggens said among the accounts were some with thousands of US dollars and Euros.

The mother-of-three, who works at the Norton Dog pub, said: “I am just glad they came to me.

“If they had fallen into the wrong hands, someone would have had everything they needed to steal thousands and thousands of pounds, cloning identities as well as wiping out their accounts.

“I was furious, really, really angry.

“I just can’t believe they have done something so stupid. These things should be checked and double checked.

“What worries me is if this has happened to me without my knowing.

“I can’t believe this is the first time something like this has happened.”

Her initial thought was that someone in a rush to leave work had made the mistake, sending all 24 bank statements to her in error.

But when she reported the mistake to the bank she said she was horrified to discover the statements were sent out by a machine.

“It does not inspire confidence in the system,” Mrs Diggens added. “This could have been a catastrophic mistake.” A NatWest spokesman said a full review of what happened would be undertaken.

He said: “We take any breach of customer data extremely seriously.

“We would like to take the opportunity to apologise to Mrs Diggens and thank her for bringing this incident to our attention.

“We will review fully how this error occurred and work to ensure it is not repeated.”

He said statements are sent out by a machine but assured the automated service was managed and checked by staff. He said the error will be thoroughly investigated.