Southern Water Data Breach - Changing Bank Account

robin.uk

I am unfortunately one of the ones who's personal data has been lost by Southern Water in the January 2024 data breach. The data (stolen by the Black Basta ransomware group) includes: name, address, telephone, email address, customer reference, bank account number and bank sort code amongst other things.

Southern Water has offered 12 months free membership of Experian Identity Plus which offers some help in monitoring for fraud and offers the ability to 'freeze' your credit line. The disadvantage is that it's not really proactive if someone's trying to access my bank account and after 12 months you have to pay £11 per month to keep it.

Rather than waiting for fraud to happen and dealing with the fallout, I am considering changing my bank account. I could either ask my current bank to do this (if they are willing) or I could simply switch to another bank under the Current Account Switch Service. I understand that both options could affect my credit score in the short term.

Is this overkill? My feeling is that if all my personal data is 'out there' then it's not a case of if the fraudsters come knocking, but when and while there's not much I can do, changing bank details is one little step.

Appologies if this query is in the wrong section. I figured as it affects my bank account, this would be the appropriate place in the forum. Apologies if this assumption is incorrect.

On-the-coast

As a similarly affected southern water customer (got the same letter) I haven’t wasted a minutes worry on this.  I’ve always assumed such information could be out there anyway - if not in one collection, it could have been pieced together.  So I treat all calls, texts etc with due caution. I don’t think this changes my mind. 

la531983

Not much anyone can do with a sort code and account number tbh. First person to mention Jeremy Clarkson gets a months ban from the forum lol

400ixl

Your credit score is also a fictitious number used by the CRA's to upsell you products they get commission for selling you. No one sees that number but you and that CRA.

friolento

Not much anyone can do with the stolen data. I won’t be taking up the offer of Experian ID Plus as I can’t see what value it would provide me with. What am I missing?

WillPS

friolento said:

Not much anyone can do with the stolen data. I won’t be taking up the offer of Experian ID Plus as I can’t see what value it would provide me with. What am I missing?

Among other stuff, either useless or available for free elsewhere, it will:

• Ping you when a search against your Experian credit file is made
• Alert you when a dataset is being sold with your email address
  
• Allows you to set freeze your profile (which will cause all Experian credit searches to result in a declined result) and unfreeze
  

Worth having for nothing, definitely not worth paying £11/month for tho.

robin.uk

I guess my concern is that my data is out there in one handy little package rather than someone having to piece it together, so I'm low hanging fruit so to speak. Many, many years ago someone managed to make purchases of over £5K on a credit card I had. Took me nearly two months to convince my bank that it was fraudulent despite the fraud taking place in France while I lived in the UK.

Not so fussed about my credit score, it's good except for getting loans because as I have no debt, I have no recent record of a good payment history - maybe that would work in my favour?  Being able to freeze my credit line sounds useful as I'm unlikely to apply for credit any time soon, although I do wonder if this Experian service is the only way to that or whether any of the free services enable you to do it (couldn't see the feature on the MSE Credit Club offering).

I am probably over reacting because knowingly having my bank details exposed to ne-er-do-wells is new for me, but then I guess tradesmen give out these details all the time to customers.

Much appreciate the responses.

WillPS

robin.uk said:

I guess my concern is that my data is out there in one handy little package rather than someone having to piece it together, so I'm low hanging fruit so to speak. Many, many years ago someone managed to make purchases of over £5K on a credit card I had. Took me nearly two months to convince my bank that it was fraudulent despite the fraud taking place in France while I lived in the UK.

Not so fussed about my credit score, it's good except for getting loans because as I have no debt, I have no recent record of a good payment history - maybe that would work in my favour?  Being able to freeze my credit line sounds useful as I'm unlikely to apply for credit any time soon, although I do wonder if this Experian service is the only way to that or whether any of the free services enable you to do it (couldn't see the feature on the MSE Credit Club offering).

I am probably over reacting because knowingly having my bank details exposed to ne-er-do-wells is new for me, but then I guess tradesmen give out these details all the time to customers.

Much appreciate the responses.

Just remember that credit freeze thing if you do apply for credit - it will block you, and some providers will then be unwilling to accept an application from you for 1-6 months after they have 'declined' you.

retiredbanker1

You asked - my reply OVERKILL!

boingy

If it was me I wouldn't bother with the Experian thing but I would definitely switch the bank account using the CASS service. The impact on your credit record for a single bank switch is negligible.

Changing the account makes you a tad harder to impersonate/scam than someone who has not done so.

TheBanker

Personally I wouldn't worry, and I say that as someone who's worked in banking for 20 years including a spell in Fraud. There is nothing they can do with these details.