Residents who were impacted by the massive data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021 should take steps to protect their information from identity theft, because they are at heightened risk as a result of the breach. Recently, a large subset of the information compromised in the breach was discovered for sale on the dark web—a hidden portion of the Internet where cyber criminals buy, sell, and track personal information.

Background

On August 17th, T-Mobile reported a massive data breach compromising the sensitive personal information of millions of current, former, and prospective T-Mobile customers. The breach impacted more than 53 million individuals, including 243,680 District residents. Among other categories of impacted information, millions had their names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and driver’s license information compromised.

How to Protect Yourself

If you were affected, please the following steps to protect yourself:

• Place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells lenders and creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before issuing credit. You can place a fraud alert by contacting any one of the three major credit bureaus.
  • Equifax: https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
    • +1 (888) 766-0008
  • Experian:  https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
    • +1 (888) 397-3742
  • TransUnion: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
    • +1 (800) 680-7289
• Visit T-Mobile’s Website. T-Mobile has a dedicated online safety and identity theft protection webpage where you can learn more about common mobile fraud schemes and safety tips.

Additional Resources

If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, go to identitytheft.gov for assistance on how to report it and recover from it—or contact our Office of Consumer Protection:

• Submitting a complaint online at: https://oag.dc.gov/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint
• Calling (202) 442-9828
• Emailing consumer.protection@dc.gov