The Social Security numbers of roughly 145 million Americans—nearly half of the U.S. population—were exposed after a breach at credit report agency Equifax. While not all have been negatively affected, one Washington woman claims that the breach has severely disrupted her life. Katie Van Fleet, a Seattle native, says her identity has been stolen more than a dozen times since the massive Equifax breach earlier this year.
Van Fleet has spent months trying to regain her stolen identity, receiving letter after letter from Kohl’s, Macy’s, Home Depot, Old Navy and other companies, all saying, “Thank you for your application,” even though she never applied for credit at any of those stores. In total, her identity has been stolen 15 times, and who knows what else there is left to discover. Van Feel and her attorney have filed a class-action lawsuit against Equifax for negligence.
In early September, Equifax said that millions of Americans may have been affected by the data breach in which hackers stole Social Security numbers, names, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers. As a result, financial experts have advised all consumers—even those who have never used Equifax—to monitor their credit reports and consider freezing their credit, which restricts access to a borrower’s credit report.
In the weeks since the scandal unfolded in the public eye, Equifax has been hit with a number of lawsuits that keeps growing, due to the severity of the data breach. If you believe you had your data breached and are considering a class-action lawsuit against Equifax or any other entity at fault, please contact the Philadelphia consumer class action attorneys at Golomb LegalWithout a lawyer, you may not know how much your case is actually worth and you may be tempted to settle for far less than you need and deserve.
Call (215) 278-4449 or contact us online for a free case evaluation and learn more about protecting your rights.