I got a letter today from the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll informing me of a “data event” in which my name and SSN may have been accessed. How nice of them to let me know. They’ve offered me 2 years of credit monitoring from Equifax to say they’re sorry.
At first I didn’t understand why they would even have my information, then a quick google provided the answer: Cohen Milstein is the firm that filed the class action suit against Equifax for the big 2017 data breach. They have my information because I signed on for the class action hoping for a small tiny chunk of the settlement (which will likely end up being $0 anyway).
So, because I registered for the class action suit over a data breach, my data gets stolen again. And, as recompense, they offer me credit monitoring from the company that got hacked in the first place. As the title says, oh, the irony.
I think it may be that this your offer from Equifax: 2 years of free credit monitoring.
The appellate court issued an order on June 3, 2021, so the timing is right. Did you apply for the $125 alternative settlement? Or where you hoping to get “Up to 10 years” free credit monitoring?
Sounds like could be relevant for me too. Maybe I’ll be getting a letter like that. Now I need to dig into the documents and screen shots I saved when I signed up and remind myself just what I signed up for. I think I signed up for the years of credit monitoring rather than the measly payout.
I’m pretty sure this is a separate incident. The notification–linked to in the post above–says that it the “unusual activity” was discovered in Cohen Milstein’s computer systems in January 2021. They go on to say that it took them until June to do their forensics and the letter was dated July 15th. As I understand it, their offer for the Equifax credit monitoring is not the same as the one from the 2017 hack.