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Attorney General Andy Beshear today joined with 33 attorneys general to send a letter demanding that Equifax take immediate steps to strengthen customer protections and improve services to the nearly 143 million people impacted by the massive data breach.
“I share Kentuckians frustration surrounding this data breach and that is why I am asking Equifax to move quickly to alleviate unnecessary confusion and improve customer service,” said Beshear. “The victims of a data breach should never have to pay to freeze their credit, nor should they have to face inadvertently signing up for a costly program instead of the free service.”
In the letter, Beshear demands Equifax stop using its own data breach as an opportunity to sell services to victims, and specifically requests the company disable fee-based credit monitoring services and reimburse customers for any fees they have paid to other credit reporting agencies for a credit freeze.
Beshear said in the wake of the data breach, Equifax is asking customers to visit their website where they can enroll in a free credit monitoring service – yet, the website also offers customers a fee-based credit monitoring service, thereby causing confusion and creating the potential for a customer to incur unnecessary fees.
General Beshear has demanded that Equifax resolve this issue by disabling information that leads to the fee-based services until the sign-up period for the free service has ended.
Beshear said Equifax has also agreed to waive credit freeze fees for customers, but the other two credit bureaus, which are not responsible for the breach, Experian and Transunion, continue to charge fees. The attorneys general are asking Equifax to take steps to reimburse consumers who incur these fees as a result of the breach.
The letter also relays consumer complaints expressing difficulty locating the Equifax breach hotline number and long wait times reaching customer service. In response, the AGs ask Equifax to properly staff the hotline and make it available 24 hours a day.
Earlier this week, Beshear issued a Scam Alert to help make Kentuckians aware of the Equifax data breach, and provided instructions on how to sign up for the free credit monitoring service and guidance on how to avoid and respond to identity theft.
Beshear wants Kentuckians to know that his office will continue to monitor the company’s response and asks Kentuckians to take immediate steps to closely monitor their credit and report any suspicious credit activity to his office’s Security Breach hotline, 855-813-6508.
Attorney General Andy Beshear issued a Scam Alert today to help make Kentuckians aware of the Equifax data breach, and provided tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.
Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit-reporting agencies, recently announced a major data breach that could affect about 143 million American customers.
Equifax has indicated that from mid-May through July of this year hackers gained access to customers’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses and some driver’s license numbers. Credit card numbers of about 209,000 consumers, and personal information in credit file dispute documents for about 182,000 consumers were also accessed.
Beshear said the Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection is investigating the events surrounding the data breach, including the company’s response and the protections being offered to affected Kentuckians.
“Kentuckians who may be involved should take immediate steps to closely monitor their credit, and report any suspicious credit activity to my office,” said Beshear.
The Office of the Attorney General is asking Kentuckians who might be impacted by the breach to follow these steps to help protect against identity theft:
- Check to see if your information was compromised. Verify if your personal information was impacted by visiting the Equifax website, equifaxsecurity2017.com.
- Sign up for the free credit monitoring service. Equifax is offering a free year of TrustedID Premier credit file monitoring and ID theft protection for all U.S. consumers, whether or not their information was impacted. To sign up for the protection service, visit equifaxsecurity2017.com or call 866-447-7559, which is open every day, including weekends, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern time.
- Follow the Identity Theft Toolkit. The Office of the Attorney General’s online Identity Theft Toolkit provides systematic instructions on how to respond to possible identity theft. The toolkit includes information on how to place a credit report fraud alert, order credit reports and other helpful resources and contact information.
- Report suspicious activity. Contact the Attorney General’s data breach hotline, toll free at 855-813-6508 if you are a victim of a data breach or identity theft.
As part of Beshear’s effort to protect Kentucky families from scams, fraud and identity theft he launched Scam Alerts – the state’s first direct text and email scam notification system.
Kentuckians have recently received Scam Alerts on Hurricane Harvey scams, IRS scams Targeting Western Kentuckians and a scam targeting Kentuckians’ generosity to veterans.
To stay up to date on new and trending scams Kentuckians should sign up to receive Scam Alerts from the Office of the Attorney General. To enroll text the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.
