Attorney General Marty Jackley is alerting South Dakotans that a data breach of Credit bureau reporter Equifax, has affected 200,000 people in our state.

Jessie Schmidt of the Better Business Bureau says when you log onto the Equifax website to see if you’re affected, they'll request your name and social security number, which can be concerning to provide.  Unfortunately, there is no way around it.  The information is needed to determine if you were affected.

The next wave will be scammers sending out e-mails saying they’re Equifax, providing a link, which will likely send you to a fake website.  Be careful to only access the credit bureau websites by going directly to the site, not clicking on a link from an e-mail.

If you do find that your information was accessed with Equifax, it’s important to contact all three credit bureaus: Trans Union, Experian and Equifax.

A credit freeze can offer protection, according to Schmidt. "If you're not in a position where you're out to open new credit or expand new credit, a credit freeze is a really good thing to do because it doesn't affect the credit you already have. If somebody would go to take out credit in your name, you would notified and they'll be shut down before they even have the opportunity."

The breach lasted from mid-May through July.   To see if you were affected, go to www.equifaxsecurity2017.com


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