Yep - I got the letter as well

Me too!!!

I'm afraid these breaches are an occasional cost of doing business in this wired up world.

Take the offered protection and be glad we got it. A lot of folks have been hacked and have no recourse other than fight through it by themselves.

So far, it has not been a problem (said with my fingers crossed)

J

As Dee said, this started in June 2015 when I received an e-mail from OPM. After checking its validity, I signed up for the free credit monitoring but did not complete ALL the rest of the info the company asked for, i.e. CC numbers, All bank account numbers and other info. I felt they had my SS number, it is on your retired Military ID, part of your Medicare card, why would I be surprised if it were compromised, I would not. I only gave out my email address because OPM already had it and I am sure gave it freely to CSID, the monitoring company. I was questioned if it was valid when I posted it in October and I said I believed it was because I checked out the OPM site, So I did not report any other info on this site until now. I did sent two emails inquiries to OPM asking why my wife of 49 years served with me and I knew for a fact when I put in for retirement her name, SS number, DOB, etc was all over that paperwork so why not cover her as well. No answer. The latest letter Dee and others spoke of DID ONLY cover Dependent Children, DHUUU. There is a phone number to call as Dee Did. I suggest you all call it and register in the CSID contractor data base, or not.
CEC

All,
When I read my letter the first time, I was under the impression that we already had 3 years of coverage (free). The part that is confusing in the paragraph that states " To take advantage of the "additional" credit and identity monitoring service you must enroll with Id Experts etc. etc. At a cost ??? That struck me as a scam for subsequent coverage at a cost. - What is your findings on this issue?
Thanks,
Ed

Smokey,

There must be some questionable letters floating around because I just reread my letter(s) and there is no mention of costs at all. I signed up on the web for the additional coverage some time ago (right after I got the letter suggesting I do so) but there were no costs involved.

Anyone else get letters that talked about fees?

My issue with the entire thing is that they are putting arbitrary time limits on the protection. Our information will still be out there after 3 years or 5 years or whatever. I called OPM upon receipt of the original notification and was told that they were working on a near term fix, i.e. three year protection, to allow time to figure out what will be the ultimate solution.

I have hopes they will do the right thing.

J

My letter does not mention any fees. TOM

John, Smokey, and all others interested: If in doubt as to the validity call: 844-777-2743 and inquire.
CEC

My wife got hers several weeks before I got mine. Go figure.

Rick

So now I`m apprehensively waiting. No OPM letter yet.

Got my letter several weeks ago. My wife (non-military) got her's today. So I guess your spouse will get one.

Yup, Sarah got hers Thursday.

I was becoming a little smug about escaping all the nasty cyber things going on until I got my letter from OPM on Thursday. Same stuff about dependent children are covered but no mention of spouse.

And the flood of phishing attempts giving USAA or NFCU as the sender has begun for me. 6 in the last week.

abuse@usaa.com and phishalert@navyfederal.org are becoming the most frequent addresses in my sent mail folder.

I suppose that bad things also come to those who wait.

They didn't mention that you will be getting a e-mail every day from the tracking company asking you to buy more protection because your profile is incomplete. TOM

Tom,
I would report that to OPM and info the tracking company (CSID). I DID not list all my financials with them either, but did register and do not receive constant emails. I do receive monthly notice to log on and check any alerts that may have been discovered over that month. There may be a block to check to avoid weekly emails, I do not recall.
CEC

I signed up for this coverage a couple of months ago. Very easy to register. I did list my credit card and my NFCU banking accounts. I have not received any emails from MyIDCare at all other than the one after I first signed up. I check their "dashboard" on a regular basis (weekly). Nothing has popped. I guess that's good news.

More disconcerting to me is how many people have my Social Security Number. Not only did I stencil it on some of my uniform items 40 years ago, but I realize my SSN was on every EVAL or FITREP that I ever signed. And that would be an awful lot in three commands of 180 to 1,800 individuals. Yikes! - Jim

That's amazing Jim!!!! I hadn't thought about those types of disclosures.

Is the SSN still a requirement on evals and FITREPS?

I recall when it was a staple on personal checks!!!

Our info is out there in a number of ways.

As for my situations. I said before that I had signed up for the protection and to date, havn't had any problems. Same as Chuck, I get an e-mail monthly showing the status which has to date, been clean.

Pat got her letter about the same time that I received mine. She's signed up and receives the monthly status reports.

J

I may be a bit old-fashioned, and probably some level of paranoid as well.

I received my OPM letter. But there is no way that I would put my name, SSN, DOB, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers all in the same response or document and send it to anyone, anywhere, for any reason. This cyber world can be a minefield, and you are only as protected as the weakest link. Some geek sitting at a terminal in their basement can go anywhere they want, and do anything once they get there.

See, a very paranoid old goat!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! I said it before and I'll say it again. There are obviously "versions" of the OPM letter in circulation. My letter didn't ask for any of that!! My letter simply stated that I was being provided with security coverage for three years. It also stated that there was additional coverage available and to get that coverage, I needed to go to the suggested web site and sign on, which I did. But I did not provide any personal information.

It appeared as if the protection agency already had the information which supports George's statement that a good "geek" can go anywhere and get anything.

I was feeling pretty good about this issue until this "chatter" started taking place. Now I'm convinced that some have rcvd bogus letters and in some sense, I'm now concerned that I might be among them.

I guess the bright side is "so far, so good" but I'm feeling like some follow up might be prudent.

J

Agree, George. I spoke to an NCIS buddy of mine and asked him to check into it for me before I called and signed up. My letter was legit. The only information I was willing to provide for the monitoring was my name, email address and phone numbers. I do like the fact that they provide free credit history from Equifax, Experian and Transunion.

We are simple people with all banking through NFCU, no mortgage, no loans and only 2 credit cards. On card is rarely used so I'm thinking of giving them that card number as a test to see if anything strange appears. Still on the fence.

We've never had our identity stolen nor have we received any charges we were not aware of. We haven't even had a computer bug or virus to our knowledge.

That same NCIS agent gave me a bit of advice years ago that I still follow: The first address in my email contacts list is 000.000@000.000 I guess that tricks any bug or virus that gets into your system because they start at the beginning of your list and don't recognize the address as valid so they can go no further. Maybe it's not true, but we do it anyway. The one time spam was sent from my computer was the day I installed my new computer and hadn't restored my entire contacts list. Hmmm.

- Jim

Maybe we are too old, but have never received any such letter. Agree thoroughly with George about sharing personal information.