It’s the time of year when millions of people begin shopping for the holidays. And every year, more and more are turning to the internet for all their gifting needs. Along with the convenience of shopping online, however, comes new dangers as criminals are ready to strike with several holiday shopping scams.
Identity thieves made one of their first strikes against early holiday shoppers this year with an attack against retail giant Macy’s and its customers. An unauthorized third party added unauthorized computer code to macys.com to capture customer information – including their payment details.
What happened?
- On October 7, 2019, unauthorized code was implemented on macys.com.
- The code allowed a third party to capture info from the retailer’s website, exposing and compromising customer credit card info during checkout as well as from their saved payment options.
- The code remained live on the website for over a week, until it was discovered and removed on October 15.
- Identity thieves may have gained access to users’ names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses as well as their payment card numbers, expiration dates and security numbers.
- It is not known how many people were affected at this time.
- Mobile users were unaffected.
What can you do?
- The stolen data is now out there – forever. Your information can be sold on the Dark Web and Deep Web, which is why monitoring these areas is imperative. IDShield offers Dark Web and Deep Web monitoring to watch for instances where your personal information appears.
- Credit Monitoring alone is insufficient. In addition to stolen credit information, personal addresses and names were also exposed. Criminals can utilize these details for a wide selection of criminal activities.
- Thieves can use your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for payday loans, auto/title pawn, rent-to-own outlets, etc. IDShield includes High Risk Transaction and Application Monitoring to find when your details are used for such purposes.
It can be difficult dealing with the fallout of having your identity stolen, but you don’t have to do it on your own. IDShield’s identity theft specialists can help you manage your privacy with one-on-one consultation tailored to your specific needs.
IDShield is a product of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. d/b/a LegalShield (“LegalShield”). LegalShield provides access to identity theft protection and restoration services. For complete terms, coverage and conditions, please see www.idshield.com. All Licensed Private Investigators are licensed in the state of Oklahoma. This is not intended to be legal advice. Please contact an attorney for legal advice or assistance. If you are a LegalShield member, you should contact your Provider Law Firm.
