Attorney General Kathleen Jennings urges all Delaware residents who believe they were impacted by the data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021 to take appropriate steps to protect their information from identity theft.
On August 17, T-Mobile reported a massive data breach compromising the sensitive personal information of millions of current, former, and prospective T-Mobile customers. The breach impacted more than 53 million individuals, including over 148,000 Delaware residents. Among other categories of impacted information, millions had their names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and driver’s license information compromised.
Recently, a large subset of the information compromised in the breach was for sale on the dark web—a hidden portion of the Internet where cyber criminals buy, sell, and track personal information. Many individuals have since received alerts through various identity theft protection services informing them that their information was found online in connection with the breach, confirming that impacted individuals are at heightened risk for identity theft.
“Companies that collect consumer data have an obligation to protect that data,” said Attorney General Jennings. “Unfortunately, this breach does not just affect current and former customers, but also includes potential customers who never ultimately signed up with T-Mobile. I encourage anyone who receives an alert regarding this data breach to take that alert very seriously, even if you have never been a T-Mobile customer.”
Attorney General Jennings urges anyone who believes they were impacted by the T-Mobile breach to take the following steps to protect themselves:
Monitor your credit. Credit monitoring services track your credit report and alert you whenever a change is made, such as a new account or a large purchase. Most services will notify you within 24 hours of any change to your credit report.
- Consider placing a free credit freeze on your credit report. Identity thieves will not be able to open a new credit account in your name while the freeze is in place. You can place a credit freeze by contacting each of the three major credit bureaus:
- Equifax | https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/ | (888) 766-0008
- Experian | https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html | (888) 397-3742
- TransUnion | https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze | (800) 680-7289
- Place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells lenders and creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before issuing credit. You can place a fraud alert by contacting any one of the three major credit bureaus.
If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, go to identitytheft.gov for assistance on how to report it and recover from it. You may also contact the Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit at (800) 220-5424 or visit de.gov/consumercomplaint to submit a complaint.
