Own an Acer Computer? You Might Have Been Hacked

If you purchased something on computer manufacturer Acer’s website over the last year, your credit card information may have been stolen.

Hackers made off with the names, addresses, card numbers, expiration dates and three-digit security codes of a reported 34,500 customers. So far, there is no reported evidence that usernames or passwords were compromised during the unauthorized third-party access.

Acer acknowledged the data breach, which reportedly happened more than a year ago, in a letter prepared for customers. Customers who purchased products on the site between May 12, 2015 and April 28, 2016 might have had their data compromised.

“Safeguarding your personal information is important to us,” Mark Groveunder, vice president of Acer customer service, wrote in the letter. “We took immediate steps to remediate this security issue upon identifying it, and we are being assisted by outside cybersecurity experts. We have reported this issue to our credit card payment processor. We have also contacted and offered our full cooperation to federal law enforcement.”

Review Your Credit For Signs of Identity Theft

The company is urging customers to review their accounts for any signs of identity theft.

If you are concerned that your credit card data was stolen in the Acer hack, it’s a good idea to check your credit scores and credit reports for any signs of unauthorized activity, such as new accounts you don’t recognize. Thieves often get credit cards, buy cars or take out a loan, and when they don’t repay it, the victim’s credit suffers. Until the victim realizes what’s happened, files a police reports and gets rid of the fraudulent accounts, the negative information reported to credit bureaus continues to do damage. (You can get free annual credit reports on AnnualCreditReport.com and you can check two of your credit scores for free every month on Credit.com.)

You can also consider freezing your credit until you’re certain you’re in the clear. When you freeze your credit, no one can open a new credit card or loan — not even you. Once you need access to your credit, you have to thaw it before a potential lender has the ability to review your application. You can continue to use your existing accounts, and a freeze won’t keep you from getting your free credit reports or credit scores.

More Money-Saving Reads:

• What’s a Good Credit Score?
• What’s a Bad Credit Score?
• How Credit Impacts Your Day-to-Day Life

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