Home Depot Data Breach Prompts Free Identify Theft Protection Offer

By Jaimie Cura (Patch Staff)

Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein and Attorney General George Jepsen are advising all Connecticut residents who have shopped at Home Depot stores since April to take advantage of the free services being offered by the retailer in the wake of the massive data breach announced earlier this month.

“With reports that stolen data is now being used in locations across the country, there’s no time to waste in securing your data and I strongly urge residents who shopped earlier this year at Home Depot to take advantage of the free credit monitoring and identity theft protection being offered to them, and to take further steps to prevent, identify and report any fraud resulting from this major breach,” Governor Dannel P. Malloy said.

“We also suggest that any Home Depot shopper who has not already changed PIN numbers and passwords on cards that they may have used at the store to do so now, and to check bank and credit statements very carefully over the next few months for activity they don’t recognize,” he said.

Middletown’s Home Depot is located at 909 Washington St.

Free Identity Repair Assistance

Home Depot is offering one year of free identity repair assistance through AllClear ID. Affected U.S. customers may also enroll in the AllClear PRO service at no cost to them at any time during the next 12 months.

These services are available through September 19, 2015, and include credit monitoring and an identity theft insurance policy. Anyone in the U.S who used a payment card at one of The Home Depot’s stores from April 2014 to the present is eligible for these services. The website is: https://homedepot.allclearid.com/

The Home Depot identity protection is completely free. You will not be charged.

What to Do

The attorney general shared the following tips.

Review your credit card statements carefully and call your bank if you see any suspicious transactions.

Change passcodes and pin numbers on these accounts.

Watch out for phone calls or emails that appear to offer you identity theft protection but are truly phishing schemes designed to steal your information. Always go directly to The Home Depot’s website, or to the AllClear ID website, or to www.annualcreditreport.com. Don’t click on links in emails that offer these services.

Take Advantage of ID Theft Protection

“My office is already engaged with other state attorneys general in an investigation of this breach at Home Depot,” Jepsen said. “While that investigation is ongoing, I would strongly encourage Connecticut consumers to take advantage of the identity theft protection that Home Depot is offering and to monitor their credit and debit accounts and immediately act if there is any sign of suspicious activity. I would also encourage Connecticut consumers to assist in our investigation by contacting my Privacy Task Force at 860-808-5400 orattorney.general@ct.gov if they notice suspicious activity on their accounts.”

Reports of fraudulent activity as a result of the Home Depot data breach should be sent to the Privacy Task Force by email at attorney.general@ct.gov.

Free Annual Credit Reports

“Consumers should also order and review at least one of the three free annual credit reports available to them at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling toll-free 1-877-322-8228,” Rubenstein said. “Check to see if there are charges or accounts that you do not recognize, and follow through by disputing them and reporting the fraud to State and federal authorities,” Rubenstein said. “While data breaches are more common than anyone would like, we are increasingly better equipped to minimize their impact on consumers. Attorney General Jepsen and I continue to collaborate with other state and federal authorities to strengthen data security and financial protections for consumers.”

For additional details or questions regarding this incident, please visithttp://www.homedepot.com.

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(Photo: Patch archives)