Monthly Archives: September 2017

Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined with attorneys general around the country in a letter to Equifax requesting that it disable links for enrollment in fee-based credit monitoring service in the wake of the massive data breach impacting 143 million people.

“This breach affects millions of Americans including thousands of South Dakotans. Consumers, who are at absolutely no fault in this situation, should not have to pay anyone especially Equifax to either monitor or to freeze their credit,” said Jackley.

The investigation was launched as soon as Equifax publicly disclosed the breach. Equifax is offering free credit monitoring services in response to the breach, but the attorneys general today objected to Equifax “seemingly using its own data breach as an opportunity to sell services to breach victims,” they wrote.

“We believe continuing to offer consumers a fee-based service in addition to Equifax’s free monitoring services will serve to only confuse consumers who are already struggling to make decisions on how to best protect themselves in the wake of this massive breach,” the attorneys general wrote. “Selling a fee-based product that competes with Equifax’s own free offer of credit monitoring services to victims of Equifax’s own data breach is unfair, particularly if consumers are not sure if their information was compromised.”

The attorneys general also said that, although Equifax has agreed to waive credit freeze fees for those who would otherwise be subject to them, the other two credit bureaus, Experian and Transunion, continue to charge fees for security freezes. The attorneys general said that Equifax should be taking steps to reimburse consumers who incur these fees to completely freeze their credit.

The attorneys general have also had communications with Equifax expressing concerns about terms of service relative to the free credit monitoring services and the prominence of service enrollment information on Equifax’s Web page. Equifax was responsive to these concerns.

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) will host the 52nd annual Buffalo Roundup and 24th annual Arts Festival in Custer State Park later this month.

The Buffalo Roundup begins at 9:30 a.m. MDT on Friday, Sept. 29. The Arts Festival will run from Thursday, Sept. 28, through Saturday, Sept. 30.

“Each year, the Buffalo Roundup brings up to 20,000 spectators from around the world to Custer State Park to view the park’s 1,300 buffalo and watch the Old West come alive,” said Katie Ceroll, director of the Division of Parks and Recreation. “To have an arts festival with more than 125 arts and craft exhibitors means that there will be no shortage of entertainment this year for the entire family.”

The parking areas for the Roundup, located near the corrals along the Wildlife Loop Road, open at 6:15 a.m. MDT and close at 9 a.m. MDT on Sept. 29. For safety reasons, spectators need to remain in the viewing areas until all the buffalo are corralled which typically occurs around noon.

The annual Arts Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. MDT on Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Arts Festival takes place near the State Game Lodge.

The grand re-opening of the Peter Norbeck Outdoor Education Center will take place Thursday, Sept. 28. This historic building previously housed the Custer State Park Visitor Center; it has been renovated to become the new Outdoor Education Center.

“While the Buffalo Roundup’s primary purpose is herd management, it also provides our visitors an experience that is unique in the entire world,” said Jim Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “We hear from visitors around the globe about how incredible it is to watch the bison thunder over the rolling prairie. It’s something they never forget and provides great storytelling and organic word-of-mouth marketing about our state.”

A state park entrance license is required on Thursday and Saturday, but there is no cost to attend the Buffalo Roundup or Arts Festival on Friday. Share this year’s event photos with us and let others who cannot attend take in the experience with you by using #SDintheField and #BuffaloRoundup when posting images to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Next year’s Buffalo Roundup will be held Friday, Sept. 28, 2018.

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U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) invited South Dakota students interested in being nominated to one of the four U.S service academies for the class of 2019 to apply by October 31, 2017.

South Dakotans between the ages of 17 and 23 may apply to any of the four service academies if they meet eligibility requirements in leadership, physical aptitude, scholarship, and character. The four service academies are the Military Academy at West Point, New York; the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland; the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York.

“The men and women who attend our nation’s military academies are some of the very best our country has to offer,” said Thune. “Their leadership and commitment protect our nation and keep our freedoms secure. It is an honor to nominate South Dakotan each year to our nation’s service academies.”

“Year after year, I’m amazed by the integrity, grit, and determination of the South Dakota students who apply to our nation’s service academies,” said Noem. “I’m honored to be able to nominate some of these incredible young people to serve and I look forward to seeing all they will accomplish.”

Thune and Noem will each compile separate lists and make nominations to the academies of the most qualified candidates by January 31, 2018. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications to both congressional offices in order to better their chances of receiving a nomination. The academies will make the final decision on acceptance and announce appointments next spring.
Interested applicants should contact Thune’s office at (605) 334-9596 or Noem’s office at (605) 275-2868.

Attorney General Marty Jackley is alerting South Dakota citizens that a data breach of Equifax, one of the three (3) Credit Bureaus, has occurred which allowed thieves to access more than 143 million American consumers personal identifying information with 200,000 of them being South Dakota residents.

The facts according to Equifax are as follows:
“The breach lasted from mid-May through July. The hackers accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. They also stole credit card numbers for about 209,000 people and dispute documents with personal identifying information for about 182,000 people.

And they grabbed personal information of people in the UK and Canada too.”

At this time we are strongly encouraging South Dakota consumers to use the following website to determine if they are one of the potential victims – www.equifaxsecurity2017.com

• Click on the “Potential Impact” tab and enter your last name and the last six digits of you Social Security number. Your Social Security number is sensitive information, so make sure you are on a secure computer and an encrypted network connection any time you enter it.

If the site indicates you are one of the potential victims you will be asked if you want to enroll in Equifax’s TrustedID Premier credit monitoring program. If you opt to do this you will then be instructed to return to the site to enroll in this program on or after September 14, 2017 through November 21, 2017.

“Identity theft and security breaches continue to plague consumers and businesses alike. Everyone needs to take a more proactive role of protecting personal identifying information. Regardless of whether you have been affected by this breach, every consumer should get in the habit of accessing their free credit report to be alerted to matters affecting their credit,” said Jackley.

Even in light of this data breach, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division encourages consumers to continue the practice of checking their credit reports on a regular basis by visiting www.AnnualCreditReport.com or call 1-877-322-8228 for a free copy of your credit report. Consumers are entitled to a free copy from each company every 12 months. If consumers find errors on their report, contact the reporting agency in writing. Consumers may also want to consider some of the following options as a better way of protecting themselves.

• Consider placing a CREDIT FREEZE on your files. A credit freeze makes it harder for someone to open a new account in your name. Keep in mind that a credit freeze won’t prevent a thief from making charges to your existing accounts.

• Monitor your existing credit card and bank accounts closely for charges you don’t recognize.

• If you decide against a credit freeze, consider placing a FRAUD ALERT on your files. A fraud alert warns creditors that you may be an identity theft victim and that they should verify that anyone seeking credit in your name really is you.

South Dakota consumers may contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-300-1986 or consumerhelp@state.sd.us for any questions or concerns. The Privacy Rights handbook is also available and is designed to assist consumers in protecting their privacy.