Wawa Data Breach: How To Protect Your Identity, Financial Information
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After learning of a massive data breach at potentially every Wawa location, many people are on high alert to avoid putting their financial information at risk. According to Wawa, the malware began running from March 4, 2019 and was detected on Dec. 12. It's believed that it was contained by Dec. 12.
During that time, names, card numbers and expiration dates were likely available for hackers.
So what can you do to protect yourself?
- Review your credit card account to make sure there are no unauthorized charges.
- If you are a U.S. resident, you are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.
- You can also place a fraud alert or a security freeze on your credit card file through Equifax, Experian or Transunion. A fraud alert helps protect you against the possibility of an identity thief opening new credit accounts in your name.
- If you detect any incident of identity theft or fraud, promptly report the incident to your local law enforcement authorities, your state Attorney General, and the Federal Trade Commission.
For those impacted by the data breach, Wawa has made an arrangement with Experian to offer identity theft protection and credit monitoring at no charge for one year. For more information, click here.
You can also order a credit report. If you enroll in the Experian service, you will have access to activity on your credit report.
Wawa also introduced a call center dedicated to answering customer questions about the services. The call center can be reached at 1-844-386-9559. It is open Monday - Friday, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET, or Saturday and Sunday, between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET, excluding holidays.
In a statement, Wawa's CEO Chris Gheysens says these recommendations are all good data security precautions to take to try and protect your information.
