What you can do to protect yourself The Equifax Breach What you can do to protect yourself

Equifax is one of the three major credit reporting agencies. They hold a lot of information about you, including your social security number, birth date and address. Criminals stole information from their system last spring and Equifax discovered it in September. What happened?

The three major credit reporting agencies Equifax Transunion Experian The next slides will show you how to lock your credit with Equifax, and then lock it at the other two reporting agencies. This means that you can prevent thieves from opening new accounts in your name.

How to know if your information has been affected. Go to: www How to know if your information has been affected? Go to: www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/ Make sure you have typed in the address correctly.

You will be asked to enter your last name and the last 6 digits of your Social Security number

You will be told if your information was affected You will be told if your information was affected. Stay on this screen for a moment. If you are told your information has been affected, take a screen shot and save it on your computer to ask for a police report for Experian. If you have a police report or are over sixty-five, they must allow you to lock your credit for free. Otherwise, there is a charge of $10.70 in Pennsylvania To take a screen shot on your computer, press the PrtSc button, open a new word doc and press Ctrl V. Ask somebody for help if you don’t know how to do this.

After you have taken a screen shot, click on enroll. Even if the result is not affected, every consumer should probably enroll. Breaches are notorious for getting bigger than originally thought

You will be asked to fill in personal information

You will receive an email. Click on activate

Enter your date of birth and click continue

You will be asked to verify some of your financial history This could include any banks you have done business with, credit cards, mortgages and auto loans. It will be a series of multiple choice questions. If you have trouble with this part of the process (or any other part of the process) call the customer Care line at: 1-800-603-9430 I have specifically used this number because the number that Equifax publicizes goes to a pretty unhelpful call center in India. I obtained this after multiple emails and calls and the person I spoke to was very knowleageble

Log in to your newly created account

Once your account is processed, you can click on the lock to freeze or unfreeze your credit This is where the individual can lock and unlock their credit

You will also have access to alerts and your credit report

Many people are not online. What should they do? Give the handout to a trusted friend or family member. Remember, you will need to enter your social security number so it must be somebody you can trust. This trusted person can complete the process for you online. If there is no trusted person, call the Equifax Customer Care number at: 1-800-603-9430 I am hoping to get senior centers to facilitate the registration process. The handout will be the PowerPoint in notes format.

Experian Experian - 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742) From the website: The fee for placing a security freeze on a credit report is $10.70 (includes tax). If you are a victim of identity theft and submit a valid police report the fee will be waived. If you are 65 years of age or older, the fee will be waived. To request a security freeze, log on to www.experian.com/freeze or send all of the following via certified mail to Experian Security Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013: full name, with middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.; current mailing address and previous addresses for the past two years; Social Security number; and date of birth (month, day and year). In addition, enclose one copy of a government issued identification card, such as a driver’s license, state or ID card, etc., and one copy of a utility bill, bank or insurance statement, etc See the website for further directions.

Transunion www.transunion.com. P.O. Box 1000. Chester, PA 19022. 1- 800-916-8800. https://www.transunion.com/product/trueidentity-free- identity-protection From the website: True Identity is powerful identity protection in the palm of your hand. Stay in control with 1-Touch Credit Lock, informed with UNLIMITED TransUnion Credit Report refreshes, and up-to-date with alerts. All free, always free. See the website for further directions.

Other ways to protect yourself Use anti-virus protection on your computer. If you cannot afford it, use AVAST, a free program. http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000- 2239_4-10019223.html When downloading programs from the internet, use cnet: https://www.cnet.com/ Learn how to check email addresses by right clicking on name. Buy an RFID wallet. Set up bank alerts. Your bank will allow you to set up alerts that will contact you when something unusual has happened. If you are contacted, verify the number before calling back. If your debit card can be used as a credit card, do so. The less you enter pin numbers, the better. Never click on a link unless you are very sure it is safe

Phone scams Don’t answer unknown calls. Don’t believe it is the IRS, they only contact you by mail. Don’t believe it is your grandson calling from jail, or stuck in a foreign country. Don’t believe it is any official – the police, your municipality or anybody else - who tells you that you are in danger of being arrested. Don’t believe it is Microsoft wanting to fix your computer Don’t believe it is your mail server telling you that you have used up all your storage. If somebody calls you and asks “Can you hear me?” Hang up the phone.

Stay on guard The things we have discussed today are by no means an exhaustive list of ways and means of becoming an identity theft victim. Criminals spend all day long thinking up newer and more devious ways to steal money. Be cautious of people you don’t know. Verify if an email or phone call has really come from your bank or other vendor – tell them you will call back, and look up the number yourself. Emails can look very legitimate. If they are asking for information, verify it is legitimate. To stay up to date on the latest scams, visit: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts