If you get a letter from your financial institution or another company you do business with saying that your account was compromised due to a data breach, first call the company to ensure the letter is legitimate. Then, watch your back if it is. According to a study by Javelin Strategy and Research, if you receive one of these letters your chances of becoming an identity theft victim increase by 400% over persons who did not receive one.
Javelin’s survey of about 5,000 American consumers found that 19.5% of those who got a letter were later victimized, compared to 4.3% who were victimized but did not get such a letter. Robert Vamosi, an analyst at Javelin, told SCMagazineUS.com that it was not a fluke. The company has seen similar numbers in 2006 and 2007.
One of the reasons why this could be the case is because companies may only send letters to persons most severely impacted by data breaches, such as people whose ATM card personal identification numbers or Social Security numbers got out. Persons who simply had their addresses or other more minor information released may not get notified.
A second reason is that many consumers do not know what to do when they receive one of these letters; so instead, they do nothing at all. They simply throw the letter in the recycle bin and hope that nothing happens to them.
If you ever find yourself in this situation, one of the most important things you can do is be proactive about it right away. The sooner you work to protect yourself, the less likely it is that you will become a victim. First of all, change any account numbers and passwords that were released during the breach if the company who sent you the letter has not already done so. Then, order a copy of your credit report from each of the three bureaus via www.annualcreditreport.com.
Once your credit report arrives, check that all of the accounts, all of the charges, all of the addresses and all of the names are correct. Report any errors, including incorrect balances, immediately.
If the company that sent you the letter offers you a free credit monitoring service for any period of time, by all means take advantage of the service. It’s the least they can do for putting you through so much stress and hassle. Don’t count on that service as a be all and an end all, though.
You should probably look into getting yourself an identity theft protection service as well. You’ll need a way to know your information isn’t being compromised after that free monitoring plan expires. Plus, you may want a plan that is more comprehensive in its protections, especially now.
Even if you haven’t gotten one of these dreaded letters yet, it’s a good idea to sign up. There may be one headed your way right now. There is no way to know when or where a breach will occur and quite frankly its very likely that at least some of your personal information has been exposed in some way already. Its not really if you will become an identity theft victim but when. Sad to say but that’s the truth in this electronic age where people can steal your identity from another continent…. but that is something we will have to elaborate on further in a future article.