So far, at least, efforts to deal with the issue appear to have failed, said Jody Baxmeyer, vice president of marketing at North Regent RX, the company that's been receiving the faxes.

The situation has been caused by North Regent's toll-free fax number, which is nearly identical to one used by Prudential to receive medical claims-related information from doctors, Baxmeyer said. In fact, the two numbers differ by only one digit, Baxmeyer said.

As a result, North Regent's Lockport office has mistakenly received thousands of documents sent to the wrong fax number that involve more than 1,000 claims. The documents contain detailed patient medical histories, Social Security numbers and bank information meant for Prudential's insurance division.

Baxmeyer said his company contacted Prudential about the problem in October 2004 -- when North Regent first began operations -- and then followed up again in April 2005 when it had not heard back from the company. "Prudential's point of view was that, 'We are not the ones faxing the information,' which is ridiculous," Baxmeyer said. "They are the ones that solicited the business from doctors and clinics, and they are the ones setting up the protocols for receiving the information."

In a statement Monday, Prudential officials disagreed, saying the company cannot be held responsible for third parties who are sending the information to the wrong fax number.