Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

September 10, 2018

In a Few Days, Credit Freezes Will Be Fee-Free

This post was originally published on this siteLater this month, all of the three major consumer credit bureaus will be required to offer free credit freezes to all Americans and their dependents. Maybe you’ve been holding off freezing your credit file because your home state currently charges a fee for placing or thawing a credit freeze, or because you believe it’s just not worth the hassle. If that accurately describes your views on the matter, this post may well change your mind. A credit freeze — also known as a “security freeze” — restricts access to your credit file, making […]
June 4, 2019

LabCorp: 7.7 Million Consumers Hit in Collections Firm Breach

This post was originally published on this siteMedical testing giant LabCorp. said today personal and financial data on some 7.7 million consumers were exposed by a breach at a third-party billing collections firm. That third party — the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) — also recently notified competing firm Quest Diagnostics that an intrusion in its payments Web site exposed personal, financial and medical data on nearly 12 million Quest patients. Just a few days ago, the news was all about how Quest had suffered a major breach. But today’s disclosure by LabCorp. suggests we are nowhere near done hearing about […]
November 19, 2021

The ‘Zelle Fraud’ Scam: How it Works, How to Fight Back

This post was originally published on this siteOne of the more common ways cybercriminals cash out access to bank accounts involves draining the victim’s funds via Zelle, a “peer-to-peer” (P2P) payment service used by many financial institutions that allows customers to quickly send cash to friends and family. Naturally, a great deal of phishing schemes that precede these bank account takeovers begin with a spoofed text message from the target’s bank warning about a suspicious Zelle transfer. What follows is a deep dive into how this increasingly clever Zelle fraud scam typically works, and what victims can do about it. […]