Q: How can I find out if I was one of the 6 million voters whose information was released by the Secretary of State’s Office?
—Ann Bost, Marietta
A: Every registered voter in the state was affected by the data breach that occurred when the Secretary of State's office disclosed private information of 6.2 million people in October.
Citing a clerical error, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office sent what was called “personal identifying information” on discs to 12 organizations.
That info included Social Security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers, the AJC reported.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse recommends putting a fraud alert on your credit report by contacting one of the three credit bureaus:
- Equifax — 888-766-0008, alerts.equifax.com/AutoFraud_Online/jsp/fraudAlert.jsp
- Experian — 888-397-3742, experian.com/fraud
- TransUnion — 800-680-7289, transunion.com/corporate/personal/fraudIdentityTheft/fraudPrevention/fraudAlert.page
Q: I recently received a phone call from a caller ID that had my name and my home phone number on it. I didn’t answer and they didn’t leave a message. How can someone be calling with my number and my name?
—W.F. Adams, Atlanta
A: Technology can make a scammer's phone number look like a home number on the caller ID.
The Federal Trade Commission warns people that even though your home number shows up on the caller ID, the call is from a scammer. These kinds of calls are illegal and don’t answer them, the FTC warns at consumer.ftc.gov.
“Scammers use this trick as a way to get around call-blocking and hide from law enforcement,” the FTC wrote in a blog earlier this year.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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