T-Mobile data breach: What to do if you’re affected

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If you’re a T-Mobile customer, you may have been affected by a data breach that the wireless carrier announced this week.

T-mobile says that hackers’ “unauthorized capture of data” included personal information, including email addresses, phone numbers, billing zip codes, phone numbers and account numbers. The company says no financial information was ever at risk.

Still, more than 2 million accounts were reportedly involved. The company says that its IT team discovered the hack on August 20 and immediately took measures to shut it down.

T-Mobile data breach: How to protect yourself 

If you’re a customer who has questions, you are being encouraged to contact Customer Care by dialing 611. You can also use two-way messaging on MyT-Mobile.com, the T-Mobile App, or iMessage through Apple Business Chat.

Money expert Clark Howard says the #1 way to protect yourself from data breaches is to freeze your credit. This prevents anyone from taking out a new line of credit in your name.

If you haven’t frozen your credit, here’s what you’ll want to:

  1. Sign up for an account with CreditKarma.com or Credit Sesame to get free credit monitoring and be notified when there’s any of suspicious activity associated with your info. Here’s an in-depth rundown of how to do it.
  2. Freeze your credit at all three main credit bureaus. Here’s a guide on how to contact Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to freeze your accounts.

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