Was your information exposed in the latest data breaches at Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks OFF 5TH, Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal, or Best Buy? If so, here are some steps to take, offered by the Federal Trade Commission.
First, visit IdentityTheft.gov/databreach to get detailed advice, based on the type of information exposed, recommends Lisa Weintraub Schifferle, attorney for the FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education. If the company offers you free credit monitoring, take advantage of it. Also, consider placing a fraud alert or credit freeze on your credit reports.
What if your username or password were exposed? Or your payment card information?
IdentityTheft.gov/databreach covers these and other situations:
- For an online login or password – Log in to your account and change your password. If you use the same password other places, change those, too. Don’t forget to change your security questions, too, if your online login or password were exposed.
- For payment card information – Contact your bank or credit card company to request a new card number. Review your statements carefully to make sure no one is misusing your card. If you have automatic payments set up, don’t forget to update all of them.
To learn more about the type of information exposed in each breach, check out each company’s website: Saks, Saks OFF 5TH, Lord & Taylor, MyFitnessPal, and Best Buy.
Also, after data breaches, look out for phishing scams that try to trick you into giving your personal information. Don’t provide any personal or financial information unless you’ve initiated the contact. And don’t trust caller ID. Scammers can spoof their numbers so it looks like they’re calling from a company, even when they’re not.
If you learn that someone has misused your personal information, go to IdentityTheft.gov to report identity theft and get a recovery plan. Because recovering from identity theft – and data breaches – is works better if you make a plan.
Such important information to share. I rarely shop at any of these stores, but all it takes is one time.
Hi Jennifer,
Yes, it’s good to follow these data breaches, then figure out what to do if you think your data has been compromised.
Rita