Experian data breach

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   TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years ago

   Just a heads up.  If you are trying to protect your personal info by using the Experian webstie, there are two things to take note of.
   
   First, before you input the very sensitive info they request, make sure you are on a secure, encrypted computer.  They don't tell you to do this until later in the directions, and I fear it can cause rather than protect you from problems.  I missed it and could kick myself for doing so
   
   Second, if you are married, make sure you input data for both you and your spouse because the protection is done based on your own Social Security number.
   
   In our case, it was weird because I was told that MY info had not been impacted, but my husbands had!
   
   They will give you a free year of monitoring protection, which is good, but if you want to put a freeze on your credit, it may cost you money and for some, inconvenience.
   
   Also, I would be very careful when downloading new sites that you may not have dealt with before. 
   
   Finally, if you don't already have one, install a really good anti virus program and a malware program and run scans often.
   
   It could be years before they mop up this mess and your info (and mine) will be out there.
   
   I understand there is also a class action suit about this that you can join.  Don't know the details but you can look all of this up online.
   
   Can't help but wonder if the Russians are behind this one.  Pretty Scary.

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      wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the heads up, TT.  My wife and I both may have been affected and will be signing up tomorrow through equifax for whatever help they offer.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I was unable to get through to sign up for a credit freeze right now because we live in FL. Am thinking this is because of the hurricane damage here?  Good luck.

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   Stacie Lposted 7 years ago

   Don't you mean Equifax breach?

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I did. Sorry.  I was very tired when I wrote this...too much going on. Yes, it is Equifax...but from what I understand if you want to freeze your credit, you'll have to do it on all three sites, not just Equifax.

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         wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Or even 4 sites.  I didn't know it, but there is a fourth, smaller site that you really should freeze as well.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Do you know its name?  I had no idea there was another, but this breach is so bad that people will have to do everything possible to protect themselves. 
            
            What concerns me is that this happened between May and July, so several months went by before they told us about it.  I wonder how many people have had problems as a result of the lag time.

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               wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I don't know.  I saw it, I think, on a facebook post about freezing credit.  Skimmed it over, but wasn't all that interested in freezing mine (yet) so didn't take notes or even write down the site.  But I'm sure it listed 4...if it's not a scam to get money for a freeze that means nothing at all!
               
               Sorry, TT, can't help you here, and I did some google work trying to find a 4th site.

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                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  OK.  Thanks.  It may just have been something someone thought was the case OR was a scam!

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   Stacie Lposted 7 years ago

   They want money each time you freeze and thaw your report...and they are coming up with more services for the consumers to pay for
   I froze my reports years ago and now experian wants a monthly fee to monitor your credit reports if you want to freeze it

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   ptosisposted 7 years ago

   Equifax stands to make money off consumers through at least two major ways. The first is its own credit monitoring product. While Equifax has ceased selling credit monitoring directly to consumers after the data breach was announced, the free credit monitoring and identity theft protection Equifax is currently offering right now will only be free for a year.
   
   After that, consumers will have to pay for it at the standard rate of $17 a month.
   
   "Credit reporting agencies like Equifax make billions of dollars collecting and selling personal data about consumers without their consent, and then make consumers pay if they want to stop the sharing of their own data," said Warren
   
   The Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act would require credit reporting agencies to provide customers with stronger fraud alert protections and an additional free credit report.
   
   Warren and Schatz say the bill would also prevent credit reporting agencies from profiting off of consumers' information during a credit freeze.
   
   ____________
   Question: Yea or Nea the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act?

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      wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      How about if we change the laws so that the victim of identity theft is no longer responsible for financial loss?  Put it on the business that failed to take adequate protections to verify identity or let that company go after the source of the leak, if know.
      
      There is almost always a red flag in identity theft cases - let those that ignore that flag cover the costs.

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         ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I don't know what you mean by "always a red flag in identity theft case". Are you talking notifying the customer that very day, for free? My bank card does that. I've set it up so that every purchase is emailed to me, in case someone stole my CC#.
         
         I don't think the credit agencies would do that, they have no motivation to do so.

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            wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Along those lines.  A loan application, in person in Alabama, from a person living in Utah.  A money transfer from a bank account to a private account in another state.  A car purchase states away, via the internet.  There is usually something that can indicate a possibility of fraud.
            
            No, it wouldn't come from credit agencies; it would be the outfit offering loans, bank transactions, whatever.  Not the credit agency.
            
            But it would also mean that the days of instant credit are over; some verification process would be required.  A phone call, for instance, before shifting money or giving a loan.  Are we willing to pay that price?

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               ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I remember my theft. I was so mad. Expected $2k in bank but = $0.
               Went to banks ASAP, since it was a Monday, and $2k of internet transactions over the weekend still pending, I didn't even have to be responsible for the first $50.
               
               I wanted to call the police,but the bank said that they will handle everything. At that time, had a local ISP that I signed up with my credit card. For three months tried to cancel it. I suspect it was the shyster ISP.
               
               From then on, I have a separate minimal checking account that is linked to my paypal. So even if breached - what they'll get is a whole $10. I transfer money same day to paypal, etc. Totally paranoid since that incident.

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                  wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Happened to me, too - an eBay purchase for a fur coat purchased from a different state and to ship overseas.  Paypal had already down checked the transaction as possibly fraudulent, but DID take money from my bank.  What really frosted my behind was my bank wanted overdraft fees because they advanced more than was in the account in the crime.  Got it all back, but had to go to upper management of the bank (a large chain).  LOL and the branch manager got fired; he insisted he didn't have to follow the law in assisting me to fill out fraud forms because he didn't have the required paperwork (it is in the computer, waiting to be printed out).
                  
                  Yeah, like you I now have a separate, tiny, bank account for paypal.  Only makes sense and doesn't add much effort.  Should probably be in a different bank, but I don't go that far.

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                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     I had an Ebay purchase that went bad.  I contacted the seller, but he refused to pay me back. I then contacted three other buyers he had defrauded.  I got a hold of the local police and worked out a deal with them to contact and threaten him.  I also found out he was a grad student at a Universty in Wisconsin.  By the time I was done with my research, I knew where he lived, who his college counselor was, etc and told him I'd have him arrested if he didn't return my money.
                     
                     By this time the police had also notified him.  He had the nerve to give the money back and then ask for his fraudulent product back!  The police held it as evidence, so in the end, he lost the whole deal....I reported him to Ebay, but he continued to sell on that site for years!
                     
                     Never mess around with an old lady!

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                        wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                        Recently bought a factory refurbished cell phone through WalMart Marketplace.  Came in DOA, with water damage markers inside, Samsung never saw it.  Contacted WalMart who gave me info for the seller.  He wanted a 25% restocking fee, and I pay shipping to get it back to him.  Two calls later, to WalMart, the second to management, and I was told to forget it, keep the phone to do with as I wish and they promptly refunded the money.  Sold the phone to a repair shop for parts (in great physical condition, just DOA) for $100.
                        
                        Quite a nice scam going - sell it for 250, get $60 "restocking" fee and sell it to someone else.  But it ended with me.

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

               You betcha'

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   ptosisposted 7 years ago

   Insult to Injury:
   
   The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pushing back against the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) claim this week that it had to give a $7.25 million, no-bid contract to Equifax in the wake of its massive data breach.
   
   "Congress gave agencies, like IRS, the tools to move forward under appropriate situations. They appear to be electing not to use it,” GAO public affairs managing director Chuck Young told Politico.
   
   Young's comments come after the IRS agreed to give Equifax the more than $7 million contract to verify taxpayers' identities and help combat fraud, according to a recently-issued contract.
   
   
   
   The IRS is hiring the embattled credit reporting agency to “verify taxpayer identity and to assist in ongoing identity verification and validations needs of the Service,” according to its filing on Federal Business Opportunities, a website that lists federal contracts.
   
   The IRS labels Equifax as a “sole source order,” which means that the agency believes the credit reporting company is the only business capable of providing the service.
   
   ADVERTISEMENT
   
   IRS Commissioner John Koskinen defended the company's decision in a letter to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) obtained by Politico saying, “the only alternative” to doing business with Equifax was “to shut down all online access to taxpayer accounts.”
   
   
   I call B.S. there are two other major credit raters.
   
   Seems Equifax has friends in high places.

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   Shogunposted 6 years ago

   It's been a few months since the massive Equifax data breach, and as this Gizmodo headline indicates... Congress still has done very little to assuage our fears: "Post-Equifax, Failure of US Lawmakers to Protect Data-Breach Victims is Glaring."
   
   More data breaches will be coming in 2018, and with little protection for consumers, we're going to be the ones paying the price (again)...

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