Black Market Surveillance?

Anonymous · ‎10-10-2017

Hey all I need more help, I guess..

I logged onto MyFico and it alerted me that my information was found on a "Black Market Website". It gives me all these things to do if certain identifying information was found, but it does not show me any of that (SSN, DOB, etc.) was found. It does show my name, an old address in another State, my email address. What do I do? By the way, a Chase bank account I had had been hacked twice and 1 attempt, after closing and opening new accounts. I have since closed checking account business with Chase.

Thank you!

DaveInAZ · ‎10-11-2017

Well, I'm not sure how reliable these monitoring sites are at scanning "Black Market" websites - if credit monitoring services can scan them they're not very "black market".

But that your Chase account was hacked twice is cause for concern. Do you give your banking logon info to any services like Mint, or software on your computer like Quicken? If so I would delete them. Do you have anti-virus software on your computer? There are viruses than can record your keystrokes and phone home with it.

And change your passwords on any banking sites including credit cards, and make them as difficult as possible - mix of Capital & lowercase letters, special characters like *%$-, and numbers.

Anonymous · ‎10-12-2017

@DaveInAZ wrote:
Well, I'm not sure how reliable these monitoring sites are at scanning "Black Market" websites - if credit monitoring services can scan them they're not very "black market". So, at this point, do I not worry?

But that your Chase account was hacked twice is cause for concern. Do you give your banking logon info to any services like Mint, or software on your computer like Quicken? If so I would delete them. Do you have anti-virus software on your computer? There are viruses than can record your keystrokes and phone home with it. I do not give bank info to those sites or sites like that. I have run anti-virus and it doesn't show any viruses.

And change your passwords on any banking sites including credit cards, and make them as difficult as possible - mix of Capital & lowercase letters, special characters like *%$-, and numbers. I changed all log in information as well as set up a new email address. Should I do anything else?
Thank you!

Anonymous · ‎10-12-2017

I would worry.

Banks & lenders have internal & contracted security teams who spend all day on tor hidden black market sites buying up & analyzing large chunks of data for sale. That's how breach identification works - issuers notice a pattern of fraud on cards all recently used at X business, audit teams purchase a batch of black market card data and verify that it contains numerous member cards all used at X, issuers/processor notifies company X of breach. Don't let the fact that a reporting service can find a "black market" make you think the data being out there is any less significant. They are after all a market, if it was so secret that no one could find it they'd have no sales.

Consider it a warning to be vigilant & proactive in protecting your identity in the future. I myself got multiple black market myFICO alerts - all tied to my old yahoo email which was breached in 2013 along with EVERY OTHER YAHOO ACCOUNT IN EXISTENCE - all 3 billion. That wasn't anything new to me, I noticed this back in 2011 & again in 2013 when my account sent spam, but it served as good information for future reference.

Is it the end of the world? No. Should you definitely be concerned that a good amount of your personal information is actively being sold & traded? Very much so. Being aware of your personal attack surface is the first step in protecting your identity.

Anonymous · ‎10-12-2017

I'm in the same boat - one of my email addresses (the one I use for internet/"junk" signups) is out there from the Adobe hack a couple years ago.

One of the most important things you can do is use different passwords for different sites. Yes, it's a hassle. I do use an online password manager, but some people prefer just to write down their passwords and keep it somewhere safe at home (do NOT put it in your wallet or car), since it's way less likely cyberthieves can access a piece of paper in your filing cabinet or desk drawer than something on a server somewhere.

The reason is: imagine, say, your Facebook gets hacked. Now they have your email address TryingForTheDream@wherever.whatever. And your password is "pw123". So they go to wherever.whatever and sign in to your email with that same password "pw123" and now they have access to your email - which probably tells them where all your other accounts are, that they can try this password on. Including bank accounts, credit cards, etc. It's a domino effect.

Always use a new password for every website. At the VERY least, use a unique password for your email that is not used for anything else.

marty56 · ‎10-13-2017

Back in my credit dark days, I checked my balances almost daily to see how much credit I had to use since I was always maxed out. These days I do that for a very different reason.

If you monitor your credit and reguarly check your accounts, you should be fine.

IMHO the biggest threat to ID theft is from those who know you not strangers.

1/25/2021: FICO 850 EQ 848 TU 847 EX

RobertEG · ‎10-14-2017

I would begin by contacting your state agency that is charged with consumer protection and investigation of complaints.

It may simply be your state office of the AG.

They maintain information pertaining to improper access of consumer information, and may rely upon complaints to determine if/when they will conduct formal investigation of a given site or party who is asserted to have obtained personal and restricted consumer information.

Many sites can legally obtain public record information, such as name, prior addresses, etc., without need for any illegal activity.

Many sites, for example, exist for simple lookup of individuals by name, and can properly provide certain identifying information that is not a violation of any privacy statutes.

I would not consider such sites to be a "Black Market Website."

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2017

Thank you so much! I was in the process of changing all log in information, etc. I will keep doing this. Thanks again for all of the advice!