DivideBuy Finance, data breach - Need advice.

[Whackeygrunt]

Hi all,

So, it turns out the company Dividebuy have suffered a data breach and have emailed all customers affected (including myself) to inform us that potentially the following has been hacked:

Name
Date of Birth
Address
Telephone Number
Email address
Associated Alias (not that I have one...)

No bank details have been leaked apparently.

The rest have been let out into the wild. Obviously this could be a breach of GDPR and I'm now concerned about what this could mean for me.

Their email highly suggests that I use a service called TrueIdentity from a company called Transunion UK to monitor my credit file for suspicious activity for the next 12 months. They have paid for this service on my behalf, if I choose to use it.

I've suffered minor data breaches of my info in the past (email address and such) but their offer to pay to monitor my credit file is baffling to say the least. Shove the onus onto the customer to resolve this issue?

Speaking of being a customer..... I'm not anymore. I used them back in 2018 to pay for a mattress over 12 months, a service I concluded with payment in full sometime back in 2019. So why they still had my details on record is suspect. I thought companies have to wipe details after 12 months of no use?

A quick Google shows that they have been somewhat review bombed on Trustpilot and several legal firms are already circling, advertising for no win no fee consultations with the aim of suing Dividebuy for breach of GDPR.

Thing is folks.... I'm not sure what to do, or even what the implications are for me?

Am I at risk of someone taking out finance in my name?

Will it just be marketing spam, as in the past due to countless companies that have undoubtedly leaked my email address?

Is this serious? Thankfully I used a unique password that I've not used anywhere else. So I don't think any other service I use is at risk of being logged into.

Should I use this TrueIdentity service?

I'm inexperienced in these things.... I've got no credit agreements for anything at the moment (house is paid for, I lend from no one currently) and only ever used DivideBuy for my mattress and Hitachi Finance for my tv, which is now fully paid off. My only contracts are utilities and a mobile phone.

Please advise.....

 

[Whackeygrunt]

Anyone? I'm scared and sad. Please comfort me

 

[Whackeygrunt]

As above, sign up to TrueIdentity, let them pay for it, forget it happened. Most of that data is 'meh' imo; I'm sure some of the better OcUK detectives here could find most of it out just from Google and social platforms. Plus with a whole heap of records, I would imagine phishing will be more common than identity theft based on that information alone.

Just be aware of "this parcel has been underpaid so we need your cc details to pay the £4.23 outstanding to deliver it to <insert your address here>" around your birthday and such.

Thanks for your advice. I've never used a service like this before so had no idea on Trueidentitys reputation or even worth in using it. I'll look into them some more before deciding.

I admit the data that they claim has been obtained isn't too damaging seeing as how the vast majority of people will have their name and email address "out there" and I'm already subject to the occasional spam email or text message that are automatically blocked.

I've always used separate, unique passwords for all of my accounts and 2 step authentication with my mobile and have updated accordingly.

As for everyone else, the reason as to why I created this thread was due to the email that I received from Dividebuy being something that I have never encountered before and it caused me to become confused and somewhat anxious. I found it very odd to be told about some third party service to monitor my credit file in case of questionable activity. As I said, I'm inexperienced in these things and so thought to seek advice (keyword here) from what I thought was a decent community that I know has some knowledgeable people in it.