Anyone else get a warning from RBS WorldPay about a security breach?

**str8shooter** · December 26th, 2008, 05:25 PM

I got a letter today from RBS WorldPay, a company that processes electronic payments for merchants, company payroll, gift cards and credit card "rewards programs". It warns me that their system has been compromised and although my personal information may not have been affected, they're offering 1 year of Privacy Guard free of charge, as well as recommending several other steps to prevent fraud.

So far, this all looks legit, but I haven't finished investigating yet. There's no mention of "sign up now and I'll automatically be billed if I don't cancel" (the first thing I always check for), and all the other steps mentioned to further protect myself are also free, no strings attached (many of which can and should be done anyway). It suggests going to www.annualcreditreport.com, (which is free) not freecreditreport dot com (which isn't free) and also going straight to the big three credit reporting agencies to set a fraud alert so I get a notification if anyone attempts to access my credit history or open an account in my name.

Maybe I'm living with a false sense of security because although I shop online a lot, I use a VISA check card that I recharge for the amount I plan to spend, rather than a credit card. My thinking is that if the merchant or I do get hacked, the most I can lose is the amount on the card at that moment, and I pay cash to get it recharged so there's no bank account information associated with it.

The notice said that no big name credit card companies were breached, such as VISA, MasterCard, Discover, AE, etc., but that the rewards programs (which get attached to cards unless you specifically decline them) might be administered by RBS, which did concern me since I get emails saying I have these, but don't pay attention to what they're all about.

About the only reason I went into tin foil hat mode was that when I called the number to try to find out exactly which account of mine may have been compromised, the number was for Privacy Guard asking me to sign up. When I asked for more info, I was told me to call the number on the back of my credit card. I told them I have many, and wanted to know specifically which one, and (don't laugh) she said all credit cards have the same number on the back, but was kind enough to give me a number to call.

1-866-295-5965 if anyone's interested.

I tried calling the number several times, but get a long tone, followed by a message stating the called cannot be completed and try again later. This tells me that at least I have gotten through to a PBX or some other company system and it's not ma bell rejecting the call.

I plan to pursue this until I get some real answers, and will post info as I get it, but if anyone else gets one of these notices I'd be interested in finding out if your more successful at finding out why than I have been.