The Boston Globe gave out my credit card number - did I do enough?

February 8, 2006 7:04 AM

The Boston Globe gave out my credit card number - did I do enough? I cancelled the number and got a new one, but is that enough?

The Boston Globe home delivery recently mistakenly released thousands of customer credit card numbers (along with names and addresses) to their carriers (including stores). Upon finding out, I immediately canceled that credit card and got a new number. Was this enough protection? Should I do something like put a "fraud alert" on my accounts?

posted by Flakypastry to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Best answer: Yes. The Boston Globe is even offering a free credit monitoring to impacted customers.

Can never be too safe when you think your credit card and/or identity information has been compromised.
posted by jerseygirl at 7:08 AM on February 8, 2006

I'd say to call all 3 of those services yourself to ensure they all know that your number was handed out publicly and that they put it in your record so even if something happens or someone tries to get credit using your info, there's a note of it there.
posted by amberglow at 7:52 AM on February 8, 2006

With the credit card cancelled, all they have is your address. They can't use the stolen credit card to leverage that into a new credit card or anything, so you are pretty safe.
posted by smackfu at 7:58 AM on February 8, 2006

Best answer: You can call 1-888-397-3742 to have a fraud alert added to your credit report. Though this number connects to Experian, that agency will share the information with the other two agencies, Equifax and Trans Union. This will stop action if a transaction requiring a review of your credit history (e.g. opening a new credit card account) is initiated.

Also, there is now a phishing scheme related to this. Don't give out your card number over the phone to anyone asking for "verification" of said information.

Something that seems to have been a bit overshadowed in the coverage of this story is that some subscribers of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette who pay via automatic withdrawal from bank accounts were also affected.
posted by initapplette at 8:03 AM on February 8, 2006

crap. i subscribe to the boston globe. how do i find out if i got my # stolen?
posted by eatdonuts at 11:25 AM on February 8, 2006

www.bostonglobe.com/cclookup

And there are instructions on what to do if you are listed.
posted by jerseygirl at 11:58 AM on February 8, 2006

Response by poster: eatdonuts' question highlights my gripe about this whole fiasco (other than the obvious): the Globe has been abysmal at letting affected customers know who they are. I initially found out about this situation from metafilter - not the Globe. The Globe has my email address - that's how my direct payment was set up - why didn't they send out email alerts to their customers? In addition, I just got a letter today from the company informing me of this issue. That's almost two weeks after the incident occured - lots of time for someone to abuse my credit card.

Such a monumental screw-up should have warranted immediate notificaction of their customers.
posted by Flakypastry at 12:10 PM on February 8, 2006

I agree with you too, Flakypastry. If you owed them money, they'd sure as hell know how to find you.
posted by jerseygirl at 12:23 PM on February 8, 2006