For many people reading the headline of today’s Scam of the day it may seem odd that “Mr. Cooper” is being sued in multiple class actions, but Mr. Cooper is actually the name of a company that is the largest non-bank servicing home mortgages with more than 4.3 million customers.  Unfortunately, in October Mr. Cooper suffered a devastating data breach in which personal information including Social Security numbers of its 4.3 million customers was stolen leaving these people in serious jeopardy of identity theft.

Now three class actions have been brought against Mr. Cooper by victims of the data breach alleging that the company was negligent in protecting the security and privacy of the personal information of their customers that they held and, in addition, that the company did not notify its customers of the data breach in a timely fashion.

TIPS

So what does this mean to you and me whether we are customers of Mr. Cooper or not?

More than anything, these ransomware attacks and data breaches are another reminder that regardless of how careful we may be protecting our personal information, we are only as secure as the companies with which we do business with the worst security.  About the only way to reduce the risk is to limit the personal information we provide to these companies.  Don’t leave your credit card on file with any company and don’t provide your Social Security number to every company that asks for it unless it is truly required.  Your doctor does not need your Social Security number, but they often ask for it.

It also is important to freeze your credit reports to help protect you when data breaches do occur.  Freezing your credit is something everyone should do.  It is free and easy to do.  In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

Also, if you are in the mood to get scared you can go to the free website haveibeenpawned where you can find out what data breaches have affected you personally.  https://haveibeenpwned.com/

As for the class actions against Mr. Cooper, I am sure among Scamicide readers we have customers of Mr. Cooper so I will keep you informed as to progress of these class action lawsuits.

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