From a financial services company:
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to let you know that computer tapes containing some of your personal information were lost while being transported to an off-site storage facility by our archive services vendor.
…
The missing tapes held certain personal information, such as your name, address, Social Security number and/or shareowner account information.
…
We have no reason to believe your information has been or will be improperly accessed or misused as a result of this incident. We understand, however, that you may have questions and concerns. That is why we are offering you and other impacted individuals a free credit monitoring product, TripleAlertSM, for 24 months to help you detect possible misuse of your data.
https://experian.consumerinfo.com/triplealert/…
Tap, tap, click, click…
You’re only steps away from enrolling in Triple AlertSM Credit Monitoring.
Verification Information: Social Security number Confirm Social security number _____ ____ ______ _____ ____ ______
Aw, forget it.
September 23, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I’ve received that too and struggled to figure out if it is legit.
For one, if you’re like me, you don’t have direct dealings with BNY.
Also, there is no FTC page on this incident and site.
I even called the hotline, but again that does not help you make a security decision as to whether this is a scam or not…
September 23, 2008 at 6:52 pm
> make a security decision as to whether
> this is a scam or not…
My guess is that it isn’t a scam. But I foresee an infinite regress. Next thing you know, Experian’s archive services vendor loses a tape, and…strange loop.
September 24, 2008 at 2:26 am
“Dear Sir or Madam” is the problem. Your bank should always call you by name…
September 24, 2008 at 3:17 am
Is the message quote a copy and paste? If, so, I would definitely have “quetions and concerns” (sic).
September 24, 2008 at 10:03 am
> “quetions and concerns”
Heh. No, that was me :-)
September 24, 2008 at 10:37 am
I got this in the mail too, but they spelled my name wrong. Smells like phish to me.
September 24, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I call phish. Experian is at experian.com, and the real Triple Alert is linked from http://www.experian.com/consumer/login.html
September 25, 2008 at 5:19 pm
yep, i also received this. however, i did have a small amount of texaco stock through Mellon something. i think it’s legit. when companies lose info, though, it’s legal issues time. Mellon is probably trying to avert a class action, which seem to pop up daily.
ConsumerInfo.com seems ok via a lookup of the owner of the site:
Current Registrar: EXPERIAN SERVICES, CORP.
IP Address: 66.161.61.100 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: IIS 5
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
Web Site Status: Active
November 10, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Shouldn’t be too hard right? For example, TomTom (car navigation) comes now with models that will broadcast back information (which lets TomTom detect where traffic jams are located).
Similarly, if you never saw anyone driving across that closed of part of the street you could draw the conclusion that it’s become either a) unusable or b) non-existent, right?
November 10, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Weird, that ended up on a completely different blogpost ;-) Please ignore!
November 10, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Ah I see… The comments link is at the top of the article, not at the bottom where it usually is. Now I wonder if this happens more often? :-)