MSE News: Got an Equifax letter saying you were hacked? The helpline's struggling...

badmemory

RG2015 wrote: »

Just tried again and there is now a message from Equifax saying that the website is currently down for maintenance.

Interestingly they do not say "Planned Maintenance". Why am I so suspicious of this company?

Could it be something to do with that track record? Isn't there a saying about once bitten twice shy. And another fool me once shame on you, fool me twice ....... Commonsense dictates that a company that employed those Argentinian idiots has at some point employed other idiots along the way, who knows what that has left them susceptible to.

Luv2save

I’ve just received this Equifax letter - dated 20 January 2018. They say that my name, date of birth and landline number were accessed as part of the May 2017 cyberattack. It seems to be exactly the same as other people’s letters from last November, offering free Protect, WebDefend etc.
Why on earth has it taken them so long to inform me? Does this mean that there are thousands more people at risk than they originally identified?

chiny

Luv2save wrote: »

I’ve just received this Equifax letter - dated 20 January 2018. They say that my name, date of birth and landline number were accessed as part of the May 2017 cyberattack. It seems to be exactly the same as other people’s letters from last November, offering free Protect, WebDefend etc.
Why on earth has it taken them so long to inform me? Does this mean that there are thousands more people at risk than they originally identified?

Same here; same letter/date, same info hacked. I'll add it to the one my wife received a while back. It seems this Equifax hack has further to run.

ISTR the CEO in the US fell on his sword, along with assorted execs but has has anything useful happened ? Initial report ? Large fine imposed ? Updated any systems ? Anything other than "we are sorry... doing what we can...".

Along with KRACK and Meltdown, I'm feeling under attack.

[Deleted User]

Data is removed from credit files after 6 years anyway.

Not sure what the point is you are trying to make

RG2015

Luv2save wrote: »

I’ve just received this Equifax letter - dated 20 January 2018. They say that my name, date of birth and landline number were accessed as part of the May 2017 cyberattack. It seems to be exactly the same as other people’s letters from last November, offering free Protect, WebDefend etc.
Why on earth has it taken them so long to inform me? Does this mean that there are thousands more people at risk than they originally identified?

It is surprising that the letter is dated 20 January as this is a Saturday and I would not expect Equifax admin staff to be working on this sort of thing on a Saturday.

I would be suspicious of this although I am not sure that fraudsters would use letter post.

chiny

RG2015... like your style Of course, distrust anything, nothing less, a timely reminder.

I've got my wife's 25 Nov 17 letter, on my desk next to my 20 Jan 18 letter. If the latter letter is dodgy, its pretty good. The phrasing is the same, with the later letter having additional stuff about complaints and so on, and additional "helpful" suggestions. This latest letter came in a printed envelope with the Equifax return address, all in the same red print. I'm assuming its genuine and doing, er, nothing other than awaiting developments, if any.

Joy123

I, too, have received a letter that is dated 20 January. Strange way to start a letter, I thought, with a reference number followed by "Your personal date has been accessed; please read this letter and take action to protect yourself.; then:
"Dear Joy ...." not addressing me as Mrs ..... It did not seem very professional to me.

I didn't know anything about the company but, having put its name in google, have read articles about it going back to September. The letter seems to imply that my name and date of birth and landline number have been accessed. Well, they are easily found. It was suggested the number is removed from the telephone book and I sign up to TPS. The former is in my husband's name and we have signed up to the latter for some years now. Neither of us is in the public electoral roll.

I don't like receiving letters out of the blue, such as this, it was quite scary and seemed like a "cold call" letter until I looked up the company.

I shall have to read back to see what action has been taken by other recipients of the letter.

Having just read the Equifax site about the incident, I find it impossible to glean exactly what information Equifax thinks has been stolen.

Luv2save

The Equifax website explains that the January letters are being sent to those people who were rated as lower risk, due to less of their data being accessed. So that’s a relief!
Anyway I signed up online for the Protect service and I’ve spent a couple of hours looking at my credit report, which I’d never done before. Interesting because there was an old mobile phone account listed, which should have been closed, and another item that I’ve queried with Equifax. It shows me that looking at credit reports is probably something I should have been doing already.

chiny

Looking at my wife's Nov 17 letter and my Jan 18 letter, the amount of data (that Equifax are admitting leaked) are the same. Not looking good.

RG2015

Luv2save wrote: »

It shows me that looking at credit reports is probably something I should have been doing already.

Yes, and you may wish to check the other two credit reporting agencies (CRAs), Experian and Callcredit. Both are available free of charge as follows.

Experian via the MSE Credit Club and Callcredit via Noddle or GiffGaff.