AT&T data breach worries customers about possible scammers

AT&T says a data breach impacted current and former customers, and the breach could include sensitive information that people don’t want on the dark web.

Florida Gulf Coast University’s Chengyi Qu, professor of computing and data science, said, “It will impact our lives a little bit, because some of the information is already outside there in the dark net, so we may be getting bothered by some scam, video calls, and scam phone calls.”

WINK News reporter Annalise Iraola spoke with FGCU Professor Chengyi Qu. Professor Qu teaches computing and data science.

He has tips on what to look out for if you think your information has been compromised.

“First, make sure that we secure our database that our account needs to be updated and password. You can update it frequently and try not to take the phone calls from weird numbers,” said Qu.

Being on the lookout for any bizarre activity on your phone or email from accounts you don’t recognize is crucial. This could be scammers trying to use your data.

The leaked data comes from about 7.6 million current account holders and more than 65 million former ones.

What was stolen varies from person to person.

The company says it could include social security numbers, full names, e-mail and mailing addresses, birth dates and AT&T account details.

Most of that data is from 2019 or earlier. AT&T said it has already reset current users’ passcodes and is reaching out to those with compromised information.

AT&T is also warning customers to keep track of their account activity and credit reports.