By Herb Weisbaum, The Consumerman
Equifax will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution to those directly impacted by the massive data breach in 2017. A federal court has given final approval to the settlement.
Equifax denied any wrongdoing, but the company agreed to reimburse victims for some expenses they incurred, or time spent dealing with the breach, and provide four years of free credit monitoring to anyone who had their information stolen.
Notices are being sent by mail and email to those who already filed claims. Get one and you may question if it’s legitimate.
Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, cautions that scammers are likely to take advantage of the settlement, so you do need to be careful.
“You are going to have to authenticate yourself, and provide some of your personal information when you enroll,” Velasquez said. “That’s why it’s really important to make sure you’re looking at a legitimate email. The email should be coming from info@EquifaxBreachSettlement.com. If it’s not coming from that email address, don’t engage.”
Remember:No one will ever call you about the settlement, and you will never be asked for any money.
More Info: Equifax Data Breach Settlement home page
Herb Weisbaum, The ConsumerMan, is the consumer reporter at Northwest Newsradio, the founder of ConsumerMan.com, and host of the Consumerpedia podcast. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
