Capital One Data Breach Gives Rise to Fears of Growing Social Security Scams
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Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) September 9, 2019 – The recent Capital One data breach has raised concerns about a potential uptick in Social Security scams. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted a sharp rise in imposters pretending to be from the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2019, surpassing the number of Internal Revenue Service scammers.
A hacker gained access to the personal information of around 100 million Capital One U.S. customers, including 80,000 bank account numbers. Six million individuals in Canada were also affected by the data breach. Capital One said in an online statement, “over 99 percent of Social Security numbers were not compromised.” However, the hacker still gained access to around 140,000 Social Security numbers as well as an undisclosed quantity of personal information including names, credit limits and credit scores.
“When such a massive data breach occurs, millions of Americans are exposed to the risk of theft,” commented Florida social security disability attorney David W. Magann. “Such incidents raise serious concerns about how banks and other large institutions handle private information. Unfortunately, they also do little to stop the ongoing Social Security phone scams. As a result, it is more important now than ever to be vigilant and alert about potential scams.”
Paige Thompson was arrested on July 29 for allegedly breaking into a cloud data server and downloading nearly 30 GB of Capital One credit application data. According to an FBI agent, the 33-year-old Seattle resident wanted to share the information with others online, including Social Security numbers, names and birthdates. Thompson made little effort to hide her identity and boasted about possessing the Capital One information on social media.
The FTC recorded losses of $19 million arising from more than 76,000 complaints regarding Social Security imposter scams over the past year. The most commonly reported scams involved SSA imposters tricking consumers into believing their Social Security numbers were suspended due to suspicious activity.
The FTC warned the public that the SSA does not contact people unexpectedly. It urged individuals with questions or concerns to contact the agency itself.
Learn more at http://www.floridasocialsecurity.com/
