GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's one thing when scammers get information like your name and birthday or they get your phone number and address. While these are key pieces, scammers have to work to piece together more info to pull something off.
This latest data breach with National Public Data included all of these in one spot along with Social Security numbers. That is a problem.
"Some have described this breach as a 5-alarm fire, so we need to take it seriously. The scammers have everything they need in one place to create accounts like you, as well as get into existing accounts and email," said Lechelle Yates, Better Business Bureau.
There are three actions everyone needs to take:
Freeze your credit report
so no credit cards or loans taken out without your authorization
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
Get a PIN with the IRS
so a scammer can't file taxes as you and take your refund
Set up 2-factor authentication
on all your devices for your accounts
Which gets me to your accounts. If you never signed up for an online account for your bank, your mortgage, or your credit card-- you need to now.
"If you don't have an account yet, it's very easy for a scammer to create an account for you with your information with a new username and password, whereas if you already have an account, they then have to go in and try to crack that user name and password," said Yates.