The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday cautioned consumers about websites masquerading as an official Equifax website.
The FTC and Equifax EFX, -1.32% unveiled a $700 million settlement last week for the company’s 2017 data breach accessing personal information of 147 million consumers. Customers can check if they were affected by the breach and file a claim via one legitimate website: Equifaxbreachsettlement.com.
The FTC warnin is also something of a red flag for any customers who may see sites claiming to be Capital One COF, -7.21% in the wake of the bank’s announcement late Monday that a hacker had accessed the information of more than 100 million people. Capital One is not offering financial compensation to customers. It said it would notify customers affected by the hack through a “variety of channels” and offered free credit monitoring for two years.
Equifax and Capital One did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spotting fake Equifax sites
Consumers will never have to pay anyone to file a claim over the Equifax breach, according to Michael Atleson, the FTC’s acting assistant director in the agency’s Division of Consumer & Business Education. “And anyone who calls and tries to get you to file a claim is almost certainly a scammer,” he said in a statement. He said this link via the FTC website is another way to access Equifax’s legitimate settlement website.
Consumers affected in the breach can opt for $125 instead of 10 years of credit monitoring. They can also receive up to $500 for the time they spent dealing with the breach or preventing any fallout. Overall, consumers are eligible for cash payments capped at $20,000 if they can demonstrate loses or expenses from the breach — though experts say it could be difficult to trace the loses back to Equifax.
Equifax shares are up more than 50% year to date and Capital One shares are up almost 20%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.23% is up 16.5% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.39% is up 20% over the same period.