South Carolina
taxpayers affected by the information security data breach at the South
Carolina Department of Revenue now have until March 31, 2013, to sign up for a
year of free credit monitoring and unlimited fraud resolution provided by
Experian, the governor's office announced Friday.
The deadline to sign up for monitoring and fraud resolution had been
January 31, 2013.
Nearly 4 million individual tax filers and 700,000 businesses has personal information, including social security numbers and credit card numbers, exposed and likely stolen by international hackers between August and September of this year.
Governor
Nikki Haley reiterated that anyone who has filed a South Carolina tax return
since 1998 should take the following steps:
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Call 1-866-578-5422 to enroll in a consumer protection service. (The call
center is open 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM EST on Monday through Friday and 11:00 AM –
8:00 PM EST on Saturday and Sunday.)
-
For any South Carolina taxpayer who wishes to bypass the telephone option,
there currently is an online service available at http://www.protectmyid.com/scdor.
Enter the code SCDOR123 when prompted.
Experian's
ProtectMyID™ Alert is designed to detect, protect and resolve potential
identity theft, and includes daily monitoring of all three credit bureaus. The
alerts and daily monitoring services are provided for one year, and consumers
will continue to have access to fraud resolution agents and services beyond the
first year. Complimentary 12-month ProtectMyID memberships available to
South Carolina taxpayers affected by the DOR information security breach
include:
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Credit Report: A free copy of your Experian credit report.
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Daily 3 Bureau Credit Monitoring: Alerts you of suspicious activity including
new inquiries, newly opened accounts, delinquencies, or medical collections
found on your Experian, Equifax® and TransUnion® credit reports.
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Identity Theft Resolution: If you have been a victim of identity theft, you
will be assigned a dedicated, U.S.-based Experian Identity Theft Resolution
Agent who will walk you through the fraud resolution process, from start to finish.
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ExtendCARE: Full access to the same personalized assistance from a
highly-trained Fraud Resolution Agent even after your initial ProtectMyID
membership expires.
- $1 Million Identity Theft Insurance: As a ProtectMyID member, you are
immediately covered by a $1 Million insurance policy that can help you cover
certain costs including, lost wages, private investigator fees, and
unauthorized electronic fund transfers.
As of
Thursday, there had been 957,575 signups for Experian's ProtectMyID program.
Access to unlimited fraud resolution beyond the one year enrollment period is
included in Experian's ProtectMyID membership. Taxpayers who sign up for
protection will also be notified – by email or letter – about how to sign up
for a "Family Secure Plan" if they claim minors as dependents.
Dun &
Bradstreet Credibility Corp offers South Carolina businesses that have filed a
tax return since 1998 a CreditAlert product that will alert customers to
changes taking place in their business credit file. Even something as simple as
a change to a business address or a company officer change would set off an
alert to the business owner. The cost will be waived for business filing tax
returns since 1998. Business owners can visit http://www.dandb.com/sc/
or they can call customer service toll free at this dedicated phone number
1-800-279-9881.
Experian
offers those impacted South Carolina businesses Business Credit AdvantageSM - a
self-monitoring service that allows access to a company's business credit
report and score. South Carolina businesses can sign up for Business Credit
AdvantageSM at http://www.smartbusinessreports.com/SouthCarolina.
Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved.
