GREENSBORO, N.C. — 2 Wants To Know is focused on your information and protecting your information.
Just recently, Novant Health confirmed there was a data privacy breach. Some patient's info like names, email addresses, and phone numbers could have been shared with the company Meta, which is Facebook.
If your info was involved, you'll get a letter in the mail.
In this situation, the concern to me as a Novant patient myself, are scam calls and emails sometime in the future.
“Scammers are very adept at making their emails look like they're coming from a source, PayPal, your bank, just like people know if you get a call on your phone from the FBI or the IRS, chances are, it's not. This is spoofing, this is where scammers make their calls or emails look real to convince you to do something to do, clicking a link, having you give them a number on a gift card, it's all to separate you from your money,” said a cyber security expert.
Here's the thing, all of our information is out there somewhere. It's more than just our name and email and phone number, it's our social security number too.
That is the number identity thieves want. When they have it they can open up credit cards, and get a car loan, all in your name.
Here's how you stop it. You freeze your credit. This is easy to do. You freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus.
Equifax Security Freeze
P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348//1-800-685-1111
Experian Security Freeze
P.O. Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013//1-888-397-3742
TU Protected Consumer Freeze
P.O. Box 380 Woodlyn, PA 19094//1-800-916-8800
A credit freeze is free. It keeps the bad guys from opening up new credit cards or loans in your name.
You can still use all your credit cards when you do this.
FREE WEEKLY CREDIT REPORTS
AnnualCreditReport is a government-based site to check your credit report
and now, you can check your credit report for free every week if you want to instead of just once a year.
Checking your credit report shows you what credit cards or loans are in your name. If you don't check, scammers could be opening up cards in your name and racking up bills.
This three-step process includes: filling out a form, picking the reports you want (and you should do all three, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union), and then requesting and reviewing, which will ask you specific financial questions. Be aware, that you will be asked for your social security number. You should print off your credit report and keep it in your files.