Informative New Web Page; OAG.CA.GOV

This Is The Site Of The California Attorney General

His name is Xavier Becerra. He was appointed by Jerry Brown to replace Kamala Harris when she was elected to the US Senate.

When appointed, he was a 25 year member of the US House of Representatives representing a District from Downtown Los Angeles. His background from Wikipedia: Born in Sacramento. High School: C K McClatchy (Go Leo the Lion). Stanford Undergrad. Stanford Law School.

His appointment ends in January 2019, so he will be facing competition in a June primary and a November election.

I Saw This State Website When Researching Identity Theft

There was an excellent article on the topic that you should read and heed. The title: “Attorney General Becerra Continues Efforts to Address Equifax Data Breach, Urges Consumers to take Action to Protect Against Identity Theft.”

To Access This Site And Article Go To:  https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-continues-efforts-address-equifax-data-breach-urges.

To find out if you have been impacted by the Equifax data breach please go to https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/ and follow instructions.

Steps You Can Take:

1.      Put a fraud alert on your credit file. To do so contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax). Post with one, it goes to all three.
2.      Review your credit reports. Look through each one carefully. Use AnnualCreditReport.com not Free Credit Report. That is not official and only wants to sell your info. You can get a free report from each agency every year. Every four months use one agency.
3.      If you find something you do not understand on any report, call the credit bureau at the number on the report.
4.      Consider placing a freeze on your credit file. This is the strongest form of protection. It costs a whole $10.00 and must be done with all three. No one can use your credit to place a loan on your property, etc.

And remember, do not give personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call. Do not click on emails, as this is called phishing and is not a good thing, and be on a secured website when giving personal information.

The credit you save may be your own.

Final Thought:

In real estate and lending, be very careful when wiring funds. Many scams are now being used, such as hacking a website of someone in the transaction, and then “sitting there for a time” waiting to intercept wiring instructions.

In a previous Facebook Post and Email, I discussed the California Association of Realtor’s form, “Wiring Advisory”. Real estaters make sure any clients see this form; that is called “due diligence”, “fiduciary relationship”, and just plain professional to make sure your clients do not get scammed.