When we first learned of the Experian data breach a couple of days ago, Experian said that “there is no evidence that the data has been used inappropriately.” However, that might change soon.
Irish fraud prevention company Trustev claims that information obtained from the Experian breach — which includes data of consumers that had their credit checked by T-Mobile — may be up for sale online. Trustev monitors corners of the web that sell stolen personal data, and the firm says listings started appearing this weekend that offer the same kinds of information stolen from Experian. A screenshot of one alleged listing can be seen below. The listings are offering FULLZ data, which is a term for the full package of a person’s data, like SSN, name, date of birth, and more.
These listings don’t specifically mention T-Mobile or Experian, so there’s no guarantee that these listings are selling T-Mobile customer data. However, Trustev says that it’s “extremely likely” considering the type of data being sold and the timing of these listings. “Once fraudsters get their hands on data, they typically unload it very quickly, Trustev says.
Again, it’s not been confirmed that T-Mobile data is being sold, but it very well could be. And given all of the personal info that was taken in the Experian breach, now would be a good time to sign up for the free credit monitoring being offered by Experian and T-Mobile if you got an alert that your data may have been stolen.
The good news is that now Experian is offering a second identity protection method. When news of the breach first broke, Experian said that it’d offer two years of free credit monitoring service through ProtectMyID, which is an Experian product. Unsurprisingly, not many folks were thrilled about getting credit monitoring from the company that just experienced a data breach. Now you can get an alternative identity protection service by calling Experian at 1-866-369-0422.
Thanks, Austin!
Source: VentureBeat