Heads up - Hackers at work over the weekend.

[Star*]

This was verified by NBC - and you can look for the story about Epsilon - this isn't a joke - just be careful. No credit card info was taken. I cut and pasted this from another site I go to - so it's just FYI.

Occupational Therapist (OT): Head's up - email addresses stolen from Walgreens, Kroger, Chase, Best Buy, Target & more

I've gotten a similar email from multiple companies. It seems a lot of companies use Epsilon for their email databases. (As the world's largest permission-based email marketing services, Epsilon has more than 2,500 clients and sends more than 40 billion emails annually.)

Some companies are saying only email addresses were stolen, others are saying email addresses AND first/last names.

Just wanted to give you all a head's up. Be very cautious when opening an email from any company (even if it's addressed to you by your name), and don't click on links unless you can verify that they are valid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Valued Customer,

On March 30th, we were informed by Epsilon, a company we use to send emails to our customers, that files containing the email addresses of some Walgreens customers were accessed without authorization.

We have been assured by Epsilon that the only information that was obtained was your email address. No other personally identifiable information was at risk because such data is not contained in Epsilon's email system.

For your security, we encourage you to be aware of common email scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Walgreens will not send you emails asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If ever asked for this information, you can be confident it is not from Walgreens.

We regret this has taken place and any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact us at 1-855-814-0010. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.

Sincerely,

Walgreens Customer Service Team
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a partial list of companies affected:
AbeBooks
Ameriprise Financial
AstraZeneca
Barclays
Best Buy
Brookstone
Capital One
Chase/JP Morgan
Citigroup
The College Board
Disney Destinations
Fry's
Hilton Hotels
HSN
Kraft Foods
Kroger
Lacoste
LL Bean Visa
Marriott Rewards
McKinsey & Company
New York & Company
Ritz-Carlton Rewards
Robert Half Technologies
Target
TiVo
US Bank
Verizon
Walgreens​

 

[Nancy]

I got three emails regarding this from Best Buy, The College Board and Tivo. I happened to be in Best Buy yesterday and asked the customer service rep about it and she said they were told no confidential information was obtained but of course we should all be very careful about opening any attachments if we aren't expecting it.

Nancy

 

[slsh]

Not only don't open attachments, but don't go to any links directly thru an email, even if the email looks legit. For example, we've got a loan with- XYZ. When I get the monthly notice that the statement is ready, I do *not* click the link in the email, but type the URL that I *know* and have used before in the browser to get there (not necessarily even the URL in the email). From what I understand, these hackers are setting up fake pages that are virtually indistinguishable from the legit ones, with links in emails, and *that's* how they get your password, etc.

May the bluebird of happiness molt all over the hackers' own credit reports.

 

[TerryJ2]

Yes, I've heard about it. First I got an email from a company I do biz with, and the next day another one. Then I read the news article. Nothing, absolutely nothing is safe if people really want to do it. Amazing.

 

[GoingNorth]

My cable company was affected by this. I got an email warning from them two days ago. I'm not overly concerned as I simply do not open most attachments or go to links from non trusted sources. My friends know this.

 

[AnnieO]

May the bluebird of happiness molt all over the hackers' own credit reports.

YESSSS!!!!

I got 5 emails, 2 letters and a phone call. So they got my email address 8 times... And I still have no spam email.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER click a link in email. Type the website in yourself.

 

[Hound dog]

I don't do email links except from trusted family members.............and if that link isn't something they would normally send me (like something that interests them ect) I ask them before I open it if they sent it. But usually they've told me they sent it beforehand.

Otherwise, nope, never open a link in an email. lol