If you have an eBay account, you might want to change your password, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General warned Friday. Recent reports suggest that eBay is the latest major, national online site to fall victim to a data breach, which could include customers’ names, passwords, email and postal addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.
While the information reportedly breached at eBay does not require consumer notification under Pennsylvania’s Breach of Personal Information Notification Act, eBay is sending notices to its customers urging them to update their passwords.
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane encouraged consumers to be proactive in protecting their online information to avoid being victimized by scammers.
“Scammers often prey on vulnerable consumers after reports of a data breach,” Attorney General Kane said. “Consumers can avoid further compromising sensitive, personal information by being proactive and knowing the warning signs of a scam.”
The Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection offers the following tips that eBay consumers can take to protect themselves from fraud:
- eBay will require all users to update their passwords upon their next log-in attempt, but users should change passwords for other accounts that use an ID similar to their eBay ID or that are linked to their eBay account.
- Do not provide personal information in response to an email or text and do not click on links in unexpected messages.
- Legitimate companies will not ask for bank account or credit card information, or Social Security numbers, passwords or other sensitive information in an email or over the phone.
- Review credit card and bank account statements. eBay does not believe that any PayPal account information was compromised but monitoring financial accounts can help guard against fraudulent activity.
- Regularly check credit reports, which can be obtained for free by visiting www.AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228.
Attorney General Kane encouraged consumers to report suspicious activity regarding the eBay breach or other potential scams to the Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-441-2555 or www.attornegeneral.gov.
(Source: Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General)