Equifax breach exposes 143 million people to identity theft (year, financial, 55)

[skycaller23]

A credit freeze isn't going to protect you against identity theft.

The IRS has had their data hacked every year for the past 3 years and that data was used to file fraudulent returns for refunds.

The latest one in 2017..the IRS knew about it in September of 2016 but kept the tool in use until March 2017.
By then over $30 million in fraudulent refunds had been processed and sent out.

[selhars]

The latest one in 2017..the IRS knew about it in September of 2016 but kept the tool in use until March 2017.

Of course, WE know -- that's unconscionable.
I don't know whether TPTB don't care, or whether they care but the gov't red tape is invincible, or what to believe.
We can't really blame "IRS workers." They're taxpayers also an their ID could be stolen too.
And allowing that to remain in place was made at a higher level than the average joe.
I just don't know what they answer is.

Equifax's head of IT security was a music major.....did you all hear about that?

We're just the little people. (to borrow from part of a line from the late Leonla Helmsley reportedly said about taxes.)

[josie13]

I just looked into getting an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS. (The IP PIN is the identifying code that one can file with one's tax return to prevent anyone else from filing a fraudulent return using your personal information.)

Their website says:

"You may choose to get an IP PIN only if:

- You received an IRS letter inviting you to 'opt-in' to get an IP PIN, or

- You filed your federal tax return last year with an address in Florida, Georgia or the District of Columbia"

So, I'm quite disappointed that I can't even request an IP PIN. I have to receive a letter from the IRS inviting me to get one. That seems very wrong. Taxpayers should be able to get an IP PIN upon request, instead of waiting for fraud to occur first.

[selhars]

The information in these posts continue to leave me speechless. And not for a good reason.

[JOinGA]

Originally Posted by selhars

You don't have to sign up for credit monitoring just through Equifax. Yes they're offering it for free. But personally I want as little to do with them as possible.

I've been told Chase Bank offers free credit monitoring to its CC customers. (or at least certain ones)

I've paid for credit monitoring for years through my bank. (and it monitors all three big firms).

I didn't know about a fourth smaller credit bureau -- Innovis. But since reading about them on CD, I called them also and applied a fraud alert there as well. (If you call one of the Big Three, it will only forward the alert to the other two big firms. Innovis is not included in their cabal apparently.)

One reason I have not signed up for putting a freeze on is I'm afraid of having intractable issues with the frigging PIN issue. A human is sooo hard to get a hold of at these credit bureaus, for me, I know it'd be a nightmare not to be able to get to the bottom of whatever the issue was, .....didn't get a PIN to start with, lost/don't remember the PIN, need a new one....whatever. One glitch with all of that and I just wouldn't be able to take it blood pressure wise. I have a very low aggravation level with these bureaus. So the fraud alerts were good enough for me right now. Easy to put on. Renewable. Free. Simpler.

Consumer guru Clark Howard is recommending CreditKarma monitoring along with freezing with all three credit bureaus.

[elliedeee]

Originally Posted by Gixxer1K

I've had Credit Karma for years and after I put the fraud alert and credit freeze on they emailed me the next day to verify this. This was todays for the fraud alert.





ETA:

Strike two! Looks like Equifax used the password "admin" on their Argentina website. I would never trust them with their ID protection either. They've already exposed 143 million people with this breach and using the password "admin" just shows they have morons working their security dept.!


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/video/...191600312.html

I've had Credit Karma for years too but when I put the fraud alert on my accts they didn't notify me at all. I did the fraud alert through Equifax because that was the only company I could get through to.

I wonder if Equifax actually did put the alert on and alert the other companies. ugh.. I have the confirmation number from Equifax for the alert but let's just say not much confidence in them.

Maybe it was just the freeze CK was alerting you to?

[lancers]

Originally Posted by JOinGA

Consumer guru Clark Howard is recommending CreditKarma monitoring along with freezing with all three credit bureaus.

That's what I did in addition to Innovis and use Credit Karma too. The only thing that concerns me is what kind of loan/loans could someone get in my name that would not show on the credit reports that I can see?

[skycaller23]

Originally Posted by josie13

I just looked into getting an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS. (The IP PIN is the identifying code that one can file with one's tax return to prevent anyone else from filing a fraudulent return using your personal information.)

Their website says:

"You may choose to get an IP PIN only if:

- You received an IRS letter inviting you to 'opt-in' to get an IP PIN, or

- You filed your federal tax return last year with an address in Florida, Georgia or the District of Columbia"

So, I'm quite disappointed that I can't even request an IP PIN. I have to receive a letter from the IRS inviting me to get one. That seems very wrong. Taxpayers should be able to get an IP PIN upon request, instead of waiting for fraud to occur first.

I also went to the IRS website looking to do that as well.

Seems this is a reactive measure by the IRS, done after someone filed using your ID.

[SportyandMisty]

A local stand-up comic on the Equifax breach: Someone stole my identity. Now his life sucks, too.

[Windwalker2]

How long is it taking people to get confirmations from the Equifax credit monitoring place? It's been several days for me with no notice that it was in place.