MONEY

Moak: Mississippi T-Mobile customers hit in breach

Bill Moak
Consumer Watch Columnist

If you’ve applied for credit at the wireless provider T-Mobile in recent months, your identity could be in danger. A major data breach announced last week has sent shock waves through the wireless community, not necessarily because of its size or brazenness, but because the hackers went after one of the “Big 3” credit reporting agencies; Experian.
Hackers broke into Experian’s system and stole personal information of as many as 15 million consumers nationwide who had gone to T-Mobile to apply for cell phones and service accounts. T-Mobile had sent the customers’ data to Experian to check their credit-worthiness. The hack affected data from consumers who applied for service or device financing at T-Mobile USA, Inc. from Sept. 1, 2013, through Sept. 15, 2015.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, in a news release Thursday, noted the breach affected as many as 89,000 Mississippians.

A man uses a cellphone as he passes a T-Mobile store in New York. Credit reporting agency Experian on Thursday said that hackers accessed the Social Security numbers, birthdates and other personal information belonging to about 15 million T-Mobile wireless customers. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says 89,000 Mississippians could be among them.

The only bright side (if you could call it that) is that the hack didn’t delve into the credit database; rather, thieves stole information such as “customers’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, identification numbers (typically a driver’s license number, military ID, or passport number) and additional information.”

If you were one of those consumers, you should be receiving a letter to that effect. Hood advises you to check your credit history and monitor your accounts. “Experian and T-Mobile will offer affected consumers two years of credit monitoring and identity protection services at no cost,” Hood explained. “Experian will also waive the cost of freezing consumer’s credit to prevent a criminal from taking out a line of credit in a consumer’s name without permission.” To find out more about the incident, visit www.ProtectMyID.com/SecurityIncident or call Experian at (866)-369-0422. 
“We encourage impacted consumers to seek credit freezes as soon as possible, as well as take advantage of credit monitoring services,” he said.
If you believe you are a victim of identity theft or any other scam, contact the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division at (601) 359-4230 or toll free at 1-800-281-4418. Additional resources about protecting your identity can be found at www.agjimhood.com.

Contact Bill Moak at moakconsumer @gmail.com.