What information may have been exposed?
Since the company's payment card network may have been violated, it means that your credit or debit card information may have been exposed. Michaels has not confirmed or revealed any details about the violation, so it is unknown if your PIN, CVV codes, or the card expiry dates were also revealed in the breach of security possible.
What can I do to protect myself?
Although the safety of Michael violation is still under investigation by the company, there are still some steps that you should take to protect yourself from any kind of financial or identity theft.
1. Check your bank statements: Look carefully at each of your credit card statements or debit for the past year and make sure that you were the one who fulfilled all the transactions. If there is a transaction you do not recognize, then you should immediately call your bank to report the fraud and request a new debit or credit card. It is important to note that you can request a new card of debit or credit as a precaution, but some banks do not issue new cards unless there is fraud confirmed the account.
2. Shred all documents containing personal information: Considering there is a chance your payment and personal information may have been accessed by thieves, you must ensure that you shred all documents containing personal information. This can include anything from your bank statements to credit card offers you receive in the mail. Since you want to destroy the document, it is essential that you use a cross-cut shredder as opposed to a straight cut shredder because the cross-cut shredder will ensure that it is impossible to put the documents together.
3. Consider registering for identity theft protection: As a precaution, you should consider signing up for a service protection against identity theft. Most of these services are actively monitoring all three of your credit reports and alert you if something is changed or added to them. In addition to monitoring credit report, negotiation, sale and modification of your personal and banking information is monitored on the black market of the Internet and public folders. In case your information - such as your Social Security number, bank account numbers or postal address - is found, the service notifies you immediately to provide you tips and steps you need to take to protect yourself. The best part of identity theft protection services is that most of them offer some kind of free trial so you can test the service before making a financial commitment. Visit our protection against identity theft compare chart to see which service will best suit your protection needs.