Albuquerque, NM – This morning, Attorney General Hector Balderas issued a Scam Alert warning New Mexicans to protect themselves against callers attempting to use the recent security breach at Equifax to perpetrate a new kind of scam. The new scam involves callers pretending to represent Equifax and asking for personal and financial information over the phone. Equifax will not be calling anyone asking for their personal or financial information.

“Equifax is not going to call and ask for your information,” Attorney General Balderas warned, noting that his office has already received complaints of the fake Equifax calls. “It’s terrible that anyone would try to take advantage of the problems New Mexicans are already suffering from the breach of personal data at Equifax, but the best defense against these scams is to refuse to give any personal or financial information and, then, just hang up.”

If you receive a fake Equifax call or a call from anyone asking for your personal information, you can report it to our office and the Federal Trade Commission at www.FTC.gov. To find out more about the Equifax data breach and how to protect yourself, visit our tips sheet at http://www.nmag.gov/uploads/files/Consumer/EquifaxDataBreachConsumerInformation.pdf.

For general information about identity theft, visit IdentityTheft.gov.