Equifax Data Breach - Banking Cancer
This Is The Big One Folks (IMHO). If all the scammers got was credit card numbers, then new cards could simply be issued. This is different by a long shot. And it ain't going away this year, or next year, or a decade from now. Not useless the dysfunctional US gubmint fixes it by issuing new Social Security numbers to 134 Million people. So no, this cancer is here to stay.
Virtually everyone in the US who has ever taken a loan or owns a credit card has had all their Identity info stolen from Equifax by scammers (Social Security number, date of birth, name, address, driver license number, ...). The scammers have Everything they need to impersonate your financial identity. You say you have never dealt with Equifax? No matter, you creditors have and they gave them all your information.
In your good name, the scammers can take out loans and mortgages, empty your bank accounts, or whatever. Oh and if you decide to put a freeze on your credit, it may not be comforting to realize that the scammers have all the identity info they need to unfreeze it.
Info On What You Need To Do Now
Reddit has a mega thread on this issue listing things you can and should do at this point. It looks fairly comprehensive so rather than list it here, I'll drop the weblink.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/official_mega_t...
Oh and did I say F**k Equifax? No? well then F**k Equifax. The security sites are ablaze with severe criticism of Equifax for their lousy security and their inane and slow response to this monster hacking incident. Equifax discovered the breach 6 weeks ago and did not report it until now. In the meantime, Equifax executives have been dumping large blocks of the company's stock (worth a combined $1.8 million) -- gee what a coincidence.
Equifax opened a site where you can check whether you affected. If they report that you are affected, they will give you 1 year of credit fraud reporting. Um, did I miss something here? Does my Social Security number expire in one year? And there are reports that signing up means you agree to arbitration if something happens as a result of this breach. So if scammers steal your nest egg, you CAN'T SUE Equifax. Ha.
This is a time when a strong Congress could help protect us citizens. But we all know whose side they are on (yes, both stinking, rotten parties).
GOOD LUCK to all. I think we're all gonna need it.
Edit 9/10/2017: Changed "millions of shares" to "worth a combined $1.8 million".
Comments
Guillotines, ropes and pitchforks
were and are a proven deterrent, but in modern
day amerika all we get is the look forward BS
and since our clowngress won't do anything of
substance, yep we are all fucked. People need
to go to jail cause if they don't we all know
this cycle of neoliberalism is a game ender.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Laws Are Only For Commoners
The Insider Trading law should just get dumped since no one will enforce it on the 1%.
However, if you or I get caught stealing a candy bar, we will be totally f***ed.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Well, we won't be homeless! At least for ten to twenty
years. /s
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
And here I was not two weeks ago being mocked...
by certain people (NOT HERE) for being paranoid and insisting on a physical check mailed to my home address.
Paranoia: They can still be plotting, even if you're not paranoid.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks That is funny
That is funny
I don't blame you for being careful. My career is software development and I have minored in software security. But everytime my computer slows down, it leaves me wondering "Dammit. Did they break in?!"
My brother has told me many times he avoids doing online banking and bill payment so he can avoid the hackers. Opps, the hackers got to him anyway (thanks Equifax).
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
They are probably
the same people who mock anyone for questioning the voter systems.
I think it's easy to conclude, with all of the data breaches far and wide, that our voter systems are not secure and never will be.
Is there a hack-free system anywhere in the world?
dfarrah
pencil, paper, one-time pad.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
equifax needs to be shut down, it's a public nuisance...
in addition to writing your congressworm and demanding action, it seems that people ought to write to the state that has incorporated equifax (i think that it is georgia) and demand that they revoke equifax's corporate charter and force them to dismantle the company.
the state that has provided equifax with a license to operate a public nuisance should be boycotted should it refuse to revoke the charter.
if corporations are people (as mitt romney assures us) - then this corporation deserves the death penalty.
@joe shikspack Agreed, shutdown Equifax.
Agreed, shutdown Equifax.
Of course, the other two, Experian and TransUnion operate under the same exact rules. There is something really creepy about these companies getting unfettered access to all our finacial info and doing whatever the f*** they want with it.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
i agree...
they all need to go, all of the damned data miners, but this is a teachable moment for the american people, 143 million of whom should now be mad as hornets.
And they need to
clawback profits on those share sales by the executives, or unwind the transactions somehow.
dfarrah
hey js, agree. Heh
Heh.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I've said for years that if you are a crooked businessman,
come to Georgia!
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Yep, Equifax and many more
businesses deserve the death penalty.
Also, their executives need to be banned from the business.
dfarrah
Thanks C o E ! Had been wanting to read up on this
but was installing some solar backup and it got away from me this week.
Then you put this up and luckily my wife jakkalbessie read it in the doc office this morning and told me to get on it.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
@divineorder "Get On It" Hahaha.
"Get On It" Hahaha.
when word comes down from the front office, it's time to act.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
There is a FBI website that people can report the stolen SS# to
I was informed that someone in Texas has my names and SS#. The only difference is our middle name or initial. So I reported it to the FBI website over 4 years ago and I have heard nothing since.
Every February social security sends me a letter stating that I have reported income that I hadn't let them know about and that they would call me on a set day and time to discuss this. The first time they called I let them know that my SS had been stolen and I had reported it to the FBI. But each February I have to go through this again and after each time, SS sends me an email link to report it to the FBI which I have now done for 4 years now and I have never heard anything back from them.
Since SS knows that my number has been stolen, then why haven't they followed up on this? Are they going to let this other snoopydawg continue to use my # and when they retire they will receive their benefits? This seems like a no brainer. It is confirmed that this is my SS# and the person who is using it got it under false pretense.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Instructions on the FTC website
..... are actually much clearer and easily understood than the almost non-existent ones on Equifax's own site.
The FTC site is here. Follow the instructions until you find out if you've possibly been impacted. Once you have your answer, Equifax will want you to sign up for their service. As others have warned us, this may affect your ability to sue Equifax for their fuckups; you may want to close the page without continuing.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Fucking perfect.
When I go to this site:
https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/
Firefox tells me it's not a secure connection.
Asshats.
I placed credit freezes yesterday, and had the "privilege" of having to pay $10 a pop for it. Other than that, I'm not really sure what else to do but hope nothing happens.
Where's my pitchfork?!
There a lots of tech news articles about
that Data Breach Checker web site. This guy says it is giving incorrect answers.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/we-tested-equifax-data-breach-checker-it-is...
I saw another article this morning that said it's being flagged by browsers as a phishing site. I think it's because Equifax screwed up their web site https certificates but I can't find the link now.
They really really F***ed Up their response to this incident. Not confidence inspiring.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
do no harm
"First, do no harm."
Or, as industrial hardware technicians say:
"Ship no swine before its time!"
Equifax violated these principles with their website design.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
secure connection
The site shows as fully secure on my computer, with certificates issued by GeoTrust inc.
You may have a browser issue.
If you have an alternate browser, try it with that browser and see what happens. If the other browser shows secure, you may need to purge Firefox's cache to get secure contact.
Good luck! Please let me know what you find out!
EDIT: IMPORTANT: Information has surfaced that indicates that Equifax fucked up their website design with respect to HTTPS certificate installation. DO NOT make changes to your local system! Try reloading the site first!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Sorry for the late response!
Just tried re-loading. Still showing as insecure. Which is fine ... I have no intention of using any "help" from Equifax at this point.
During my layoff I developed an insane anti-theft technique.
My job was moved to India to someone much less qualified of course. And I don't hold any bad feelings toward the people there--just trying to make a living.
So I was laid off essentially for a year and a half. During that time of course significant financial stress. And that meant topping off credit cards and making late payments. So course my credit rating went deep south.
So let the mf'ers have my information. Nobody will issue them a card in my name--ha ha assholes, bad credit. And if someone got ahold of my credit card number/info, great--they might manage a six pack unless I buy it first. I can just imagine the look on somebody's face trying to use my credit card when the purchase is denied.
I would not recommend the technique, but ironically it has protected me if somebody got critical financial info. about me.
Ironic that you mention that
I had been trying to deep six my credit rating for the same purpose as you.
If I have a 0 credit rating, nobody could use my info for nefarious activities. But what I found out is you can never go below 450 credit rating. Non of the credit rating agencies score below that number.
Essentially, you always have some credit.
The whole system is effed up.
You can't borrow money without credit, and you can't get credit without a history of borrowing.
Credexit. Cut up your credit cards and lead a cash only existence.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I defaulted on two of my credit cards
after paying for 20 years for dental work on teeth I haven't had for over 10 years after I lost my job and they wouldn't work with me on them.
Plus I have a few other issues that affected my credit. Does this mean that financial institutions won't open up new cards or loans on my information? Every time I order dawg food from Amazon, I'm offered $50 off my purchase if I get an Amazon credit card. And each time I tried, I was turned down.
Does this mean that my credit is worth shit? I think so.
And why should we have to pay to freeze our credit when we weren't responsible for having the information on those sites? $3-10 per site to put a freeze on our credit. That's $30 I have to shell out of my meager savings. How the hell was it legal for a company to have our information? Whose bright idea was this?
This company at least should be offering this to us for free and sharing this information with the other two companies that have our information.
This company sat on the news of this hack for 6 f*cking weeks while the CEOs dumped their stocks. If they don't get charged for this, then they should have to be responsible for every person who gets affected by someone using their information.
Thanks for this essay and for the links provided in it and the comments.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
There is also a fee to unfreeze account.
So to freeze account and then unfreeze temporarily and then re-freeze looks to be pushing about $90. Amazon has also rejected me. Also, as I understand, applying and being rejected for credit even lowers your credit score further.
According to this Reddit website
We can file a report with the police and then it doesn't cost anything to freeze our accounts. I am not sure if this can be done by phone or if people have to go to the police department to get their reports.
This sub Reddit site has some great information on this. I'm not sure if this is what was in this essay. I've been following too many links.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/official_mega_t...
Some people in this thread are reporting that they were notified that someone tried to open an account in their name during the time that the CEOs were sitting silent on this. The only reason they knew about this was because they had taken appropriate action, but how many other people who didn't do that had this happened to them?
I wouldn't have any idea this had happened to me unless they got into my bank accounts?
Plus all the credit cards that I defaulted on expired years ago so would this make a difference?
I recently reported my cards lost and haven't activated the new ones in play yet. I had these cards before I defaulted on the two other ones and I only use them for my internet, dog food and I pay them off monthly.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Credit Freeze Solution
From Crooks & Liars:
The cost is $3 to $10 per credit reporting agency. Their source for the advice looks credible and makes sense. More details here:
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/09/dont-sign-equifaxs-free-credit-monitoring
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Looks good! Thank you MM.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Corporates get to rule all,
Corporates get to rule all, and they have worked hard to get rid of regulations blaming them for stifling "growth" well when you are in charge of such personal data as Equifax and other places are, it is on YOU EQIUFAX_TARDS to make sure that you spend the time/money/effort to secure that data, just for shit like this.
Do we truly need these clowns?
This breach is a total violation by Equifax to the people whose info they let get stolen.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
I was pretty much waiting for this one.
Like you, I think this is "the big one". I'm really curious as to what happens next. I have a hunch...golden parachutes for those at the top, years of headaches and losses for the rest of us.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
So what is the point of IDs? We are expected to verify our
identity with drivers licenses, passports, business IDs, military IDs, etc. Yet someone can take our data and forge identification documents which enable them to "become" us.
So I restate my case, what is the point of IDs? They only seem to be a problem for honest people.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"