Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing? Ugh with this whole stupid city tax department breach thing. After I had been told that I wasn't "on the list" then I receive a reverse 911 call telling me that I was. Their first list was 47,000. Their second was 8,000. Now, they say it is 30,000.
What?
I e-mailed my friend who was a money laundering specialist with a bank branch for a number of years. She now works for the Federal Reserve. (I think that she audits banks, but that isn't the correct term. It's kind of what she does.) For whatever it is worth, she has experience with such things. A lot of experience. Her information has been breached before. There was a big bank breach that involved her. That was about 5 years ago and she said that thankfully, she has seen nothing of it. Her Marshall's card was compromised. Just last week, someone charged something on her credit card in a city she wasn't in. The bank caught it and all is well.
Her bit? What I did was right. She said that we run a higher risk of fraud and ID theft. She said that she would stay with the credit monitoring that I put in place and that the security freeze is a must right now. She said that after time, I could have it lifted, but I don't know that I want to unless I need it.
The city has a service line that is open this weekend to help handle calls. I've been trying to call the number since 8 AM to see if we're on some revised list.
I can't get through.
Rrrr.
3 comments:
Oh for CRYING OUT LOUD!! ARGH!!!
B's info was part of a compromised group and the folks who "allowed" it to happen PAID for our credit monitoring for three years. I'm thinking the City should be paying up.
I was telling my friend that I have spent $50 in the last few days locking everything down and so many hours (instead of gardening) dealing with all of it. I am fortunate to have that extra money. Sure, it is only $5 to put a credit freeze, but that is per social and you need to contact all three agencies. For two people, that is 2 freezes per agency x 3 = 6 x $5 = $30.00 out of pocket. A lot of people don't have that spare. The city doesn't have it, either. You can place a police report and submit that to the credit agencies to have the $5 fees lifted. (Fee cost varies by state.) The city help line is about as helpful as a heart attack because I tried from 8 AM - 2 PM to get through to see if my name is on some revised list (because the stupid number keeps changing) and I couldn't get through. It did kick in, sounded as if I was on hold so I put it on speaker, continued on and when I came home 5 hours and 24 minutes later, it was still on speaker, waiting to be answered.
BTW, when Kent State had some slight compromise to information, they paid for a year of credit monitoring for all those affected. Hubs and I took advantage of that offer. We were thrilled to have it.
The city doesn't have the money and won't pay. I know better than to ask.
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