Carlos in Your Corner, 2/11/2012 on Property Source Radio.
by Carlos Rodriguez, Former NYS Assistant Attorney General
———————————————————————————————–—–——-
The purpose of this Consumer Alert is to assist recipients of a recent letter sent to over a million RG&E/ NYSEG customers in connection with the unauthorized access to RG&E/NYSEG customer information systems. The letter dated January 23, 2012 states, in part, “an employee of an independent software development consulting firm ( contracted by NYSEG and RG&E ) allowed unauthorized access to one of our customer information systems. The customer records contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth and, in some cases, financial institution account numbers”.
If you are a RG&E or NYSEG customer and you received this important notice, YOU NEED TO ACT IMMEDIATELY BEFORE YOU BECOME A VICTIM OF ID THEFT AS FOLLOWS:
1. Contact one of the Credit Reporting Agencies (“ CRA”) to with: EQUIFAX-1-800-525-6285, EXPERIAN-1-888-397-3742 and TRANS UNION-1-800-680-7289 and request that your Credit File be placed on a 90 Day Temporary Fraud Alert. Calling one CRA will automatically trigger the other two CRA’s to place the same alert on your Credit File.
2. Obtain a copy of your Credit Report from each CRA. You can obtain FREE COPIES OF YOUR CREDIT REPORTS BY DOWNLOADING THE FORM AT: WWW.ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM AND MAILING IT TO THE ADDRESS PROVIDED IN THE FORM.
3. Review your Credit Reports to determine if there are any unauthorized or fraudulent activity . If you discover any unauthorized accounts, Federal Law requires the Furnisher (i.e. Credit Card Company etc.) and the Credit Reporting Agency to investigate and delete the erroneous account information. In addition, monitor and review all of your monthly Credit Card statements and bills .
4. If you discover that new accounts have appeared on your Credit Report, you may be a victim of ID Theft. If so, do the following:
A) File a Police Report explaining that your Credit Report and account information have been compromised.
B) File a ID Theft Complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (“ FTC”) at www.FTC.gov.
5. RG&E and NYSEG have arranged for Experian to offer customers the option of a year of free credit monitoring free of charge. Read the fine print in connection with the terms and conditions of this “free” one year service.
REMEMBER : ID THEFT IS A GROWING BUSINESS FOR SCAMMERS. A SCAMMER’S ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL – FINANCIAL INFORMATION WILL CAUSE FINANCIAL TRAUMA TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY IF YOU ARE NOT PROACTIVE.
GOOD LUCK