[FRIAM] Advice sought: data compromise

Sun Aug 14 23:28:52 EDT 2022

I just want to thank everybody who helped me out, here. 

I followed your advice.  I started at the bottom of the tree, and verified every phone number, etc., from the bottom up, so I was able to confirm every bit of information in the letter without using any information in the letter.  I then signed up with Kroll and froze all my accounts with Equifax, etc.  

So far, so  good. 

Nick

Nick Thompson

 <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2022 5:06 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Advice sought: data compromise

Anonymity is your friend.

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz, 
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 3:04 PM Roger Critchlow <rec at elf.org <mailto:rec at elf.org> > wrote:

I got a "data security incident notification" in the mail from the "Professional Finance Company, Inc." of Livonia, Michigan that offered me an account with "Cyberscout" to monitor my online credit.  That sounded so sketchy, that I ignored it.  It turns out to be entirely true, one of the largest data incidents of the year.  Still doesn't validate the url's that the mail encourages me to use, but that is the real name of a real medical debt collection agency that really lost millions of client records.

-- rec --

On Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 8:49 PM Gillian Densmore <gil.densmore at gmail.com <mailto:gil.densmore at gmail.com> > wrote:

Nick, scan Call your Doctor in the morning to double check. Alas Ma'man. Scammers tend to target people about your  uh mmpf. Uh 'stage of life'.  "local health care provider" or any other generic name is instant redflag for scam. Just to be sure ping your doctor.

A data leak wouldn't hit just you. And you'd be reading on the news how poodlesec, or Anonymous goatsed some a database. A vague email or call is a scam. 

I get a a lot of scam and spam calls, if something sounds like Bull(removed at someones request) smells like, etc probably is. Don't over thing it and trust your gut.

I get sus af emails and calls, sometimes claiming to be from tmobile. I just check the web or my account or w/e from time to time. 

On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 8:01 AM glen <gepropella at gmail.com <mailto:gepropella at gmail.com> > wrote:

And consider putting a temporary lock on your credit. It should be free with any of the 3 big credit reporting agencies. I used equifax <https://www.equifax.com/personal/products/credit/credit-lock-alert/> when my info was leaked. The lock simply means you (or anyone impersonating you) has to jump through a few more hoops to get a loan or whatever.

On 8/12/22 06:53, Steve Smith wrote:
> Nick -
> 
> If I understand your story correctly, I would start by verifying the "local health care company".  If they are someone you do business with, then you can contact them otherwise through "normal" channels (not website/e-mail) that you already trust (you do business with them already?)   It is not good practice for *them* to be directing you to a third-party "monitoring" site in they way they seem to be.   If you do NOT do business with them already then it is almost assuredly a phishing attempt.  Or maybe more appropriately a "phlushing" attempt... what predators do to try to get prey to panic and expose themselves so they can pounce and/or run you to ground.
> 
> Hope your summer is going well otherwise!
> 
> - Steve
> 
> 
> On 8/12/22 4:12 AM, David Eric Smith wrote:
>> Yes, Nick,
>>
>> Stay in your cage of distrust.  I will be very surprised if you ultimately determine that this _wasn’t_ a scam.  Maybe even add a bar or two to your cage walls: I would generally not log into a link received in an email, if there weren’t some way I could initiate the contact with a known company through some website that the various certifiers think is theirs.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Aug 12, 2022, at 10:24 AM, <thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> > <thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> > wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi, everybody,
>>> Sorry for  the bother.
>>> A local health care company writes me to say they have compromised all my identity data, and offers to pay for “Kroll Monitoring Services”, giving me an ID number with which to log into their site.  When I do this, the site fills in my correct address and last name but an incorrect first name, and asks me to enter all my identity data.  At this point, I begin to contemplate that the notice itself may be a fraud.  I eventually find Kroll on the web, but it wasn’t all that easy.  None of the sites that evaluate credit monitoring services has it.  How do I extricate myself from my cage of distrust?
>>> Nick
>>> Nick Thompson
>>> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

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