AUGUSTA, Maine — The Office of the Maine Attorney General is urging those who suspect they have been affected by a recent data breach at Anthem take action now.
The office says about 300,000 Mainers may have had their personal data — including names, birthdays, Social Security numbers, street addresses, email addresses, employment information and income data — compromised by the breach. Neither medical nor credit card information were exposed.
Over the next couple weeks, the company plans to mail notices to people whose data the hackers did access. But Martha Currier, consumer complaint examiner with the consumer protection division of the Office of the Maine Attorney General, says people shouldn't just wait to find out.
"Waiting the two weeks to get the letter to see if you've been potentially impacted — a lot can happen in two weeks, and so folks really should consider taking action now," she says. "If someone has your Social Security number, your date of birth and your name, your address — they have the keys to the castle."
Currier stresses this is unlike recent breaches at Home Depot and Target, which exposed credit and debit card information, because "if your Social Security number has been compromised, it is going to follow you for the rest of your life."
With that number, criminals can "open credit in your name, try to get medical procedures in your name, and even file your taxes," she says.
Due to the timing — right before tax season — Currier also suggests people at risk in the breach file their taxes as soon as possible.
Those who believe they have been affected by the breach should also consider either:
- Filing a fraud alert with Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, the three credit agencies. Currier says this alert, which is free, lasts for 90 days, during which the agencies will call you at a given number if someone tries to open credit in your name.
- Freezing your credit. In a credit freeze, the agencies will not allow anyone to open credit in your name — even yourself. It costs a nominal fee to start, "perhaps $10," Currier says, and also to stop, and "there's a couple days delay, so if you were shopping for a car you would need to wait maybe 3 days before you could do that." (Click here to freeze your credit with Experian, here for TransUnion and here for Equifax).
People should not respond to any emails for phone calls soliciting any personal information — Anthem warns that scammers are now targeting current and former Anthem customers.
For help or advice from the Office of the Maine Attorney General, click here.
